Logic falls apart
by gad-eshu'a
Summary: "Yes." he whispered, ashamed. " Yes what?" She said running a finger down around his adam's apple. Spock shuttered. " Yes, I've...imagined having intercourse with you." he said meekly. Spock's TA has becomes obsessive and her fervor for him gets the best of both of them. Spock finds himself engaged in a battle of wills in which he both favors and dreads either outcome.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: 'Reasons' is taking a lot longer to get down and even longer to edit than I thought it would so I decided to post another fic in the meantime, this time a gift for Sokona that I've been working on for a while as well (even longer than reasons). It will be probably four chapters long and I already have this chapter done and the second chapter in need of some editing. Sokona, along with Valyria and many others, has been rooting me on for a while now and I wanted to gift this to her as a thank you for being awesome. **

There was nothing to warn him that morning about what was going to transpire later that afternoon. True, Nyota had been increasingly inquisitive towards his person and Vulcans in general but it was nothing that could have been read as a inappropriate attraction.

So when she asked another seemingly random question, he did not feel the to withhold any information from her.

" So, is it true that Vulcans don't lie?" she asked nibbling on an piece of fruit from her lunch bag as they ate in his office.

" That is true, Cadet." he replied evenly. In a culture of touch telepaths it was simple enough to find out the truth of the matter and find someone weaving a web of fallacies operating from flawed logic and reasoning. Why go forth with the farce when you could so easily be found to be a liar, to do so would be illogical?

He was curious as to her reasons to why should would ask he did not indulge his urge to do so.

She nodded slowly in response, brushing a piece of melon across her lips before plucking it into her mouth. He watched her chew and swallow, glancing away when he saw Nyota studying him as well.

" Well then, Commander can I ask you a question?" she asked innocently.

He huffed a bit. He hated such lines of human inquiries. Of course she could ask him a question, had she not done so right then? He opted to overlook it as she rarely ever did so. She was being aggravatingly obtuse and it was quite unbecoming.

" Of course Cadet Uhura, what do you wish to know."

She stood from her TA desk and sauntered over slowly to him, going behind his desk and leaning over behind him, bringing her mouth to brush against his ear.

Spock snapped to attention in his seat, sitting up ramrod straight with a gasp of surprise.

What was this? What strange behavior, why did she not just ask her question? Her light breath tickled the hair on his neck and he had to resist the urge to flinch.

" Tell me, Commander Spock, have you ever thought about kissing me?"

He was glad he was facing away from her so when her lips skimmed the tip of his ear, Nyota didn't see his shocked expression. Shocked that is for a Vulcan.

" Cadet, I must ask you to please refrain from touching..." he began to say as he swiveled in his chair to face her but was immediately cut off by her straddling his lap and crushing her lips to his.

What was going on?! What she ill? How could she touch him? Kiss him? She was well aware of a Vulcan's need for corporal privacy but here she was pawing at him like some wanton, pon farr female. Her plush lips parted her tongue eager to greet his own as it swept across the seam of his lips. His mouth parted gently of its own accord and she seized it with a stroke of her tongue. He groan roughly willing himself not to enjoy it but she took it as a sign of encouragement and teased his tongue to come and explore her mouth.

He knew this embrace to be called a French kiss but was confused that his African student would perform such an affection display not hailing from her home country, let alone that she was touching him at all.

Spock felt violated along with something else he'd rather not name that was growing in strength with each passing second. This experience in familiarity had gone on long enough.

He took a hold of Nyota's arms and compelled his will to pull her mouth from his. She looked at him with face that reminded him of a happy, terran feline. If she could, he was sure she would be purring. Spock was barely withholding reaction to so her himself.

" Commander, did you like it?" she drawled as she rolled her hips against his groin in a dreadfully pleasing manner.

He swallowed, horrified by her actions and his traitorous body as he felt himself grow stiff against her heat, his mouth opening and closing like a fish as he weighed answering her question. No, he did not like it he loved it, but this whole...exercise in Nyota's ardor was highly inappropriate.

" Uhura, stop with this behavior." he said firmly. He wondered if she caught the gravelly tone in his voice. He did not want her to continue and yet...

She giggled coyly as he grabbed her hips to stop their grinding motion against his lap. Her freed hands immediately went into action, rubbing his chest, caressing his face and stroking his ears.

They were soft, deft and nimble at their work, his skin tingling under her ministrations as they grazed under his chin. His chest vibrated gently before he could stop himself and Nyota attempted to mimic his purr with amazing success and the Vulcan found himself clenching his teeth to fight the urge to rest his head along the hollow of where her shoulder and neck met. That and biting it.

Spock found himself growing more desperate to get her to stop, before he did something even more foolish than he was doing now.

He grabbed her hands and she would roll her hips, he held her hips and she would go back to exploring with her lips and hands. Both parties were feverish in obtaining their goal, each panting with effort at they tried to subdue the other.

" Cadet Uhura, you must stop." he said feebly.

Why didn't he just pick her up and restrain her? She was no match for him in strength, weaker still by being female and yet he found himself bound to the chair by her hungry mouth. She kissed tempestuously, humming loudly into his mouth, stroking his tongue and desire in a way unknown to him.

She drew back with his bottom lip in her mouth and watched him as she bit it. He hissed at her with narrowed eyes and jerked his hips. He was quickly losing control of the situation. No, that wasn't right, he had never taken control and she had never relinquished it. She released his lip and nibbled across one long, arched brow before running the tip of her tongue across it. Spock sucked at the air, trying hard to gain the willpower to remove her from his body when she spoke once more.

" You have, haven't you? You've pictured yourself kissing me...perhaps even fucking me?" she said in a coquettish tone he had never heard her speak in before. Everywhere she touched his skin he buzzed with a heady lust. She was intoxicating him.

" Uhura! Do not continue!" he coughed out in a strained voice. His mind reeled for a logicially explanation for their current circumstance. How had this happened, why now? This seemed too severe to be the case of an infection or disease. Maybe Nyota had been possessed by the human's fabled succubus. That would explain her charms over him, her lust-laced kisses and her knowledge of his desire. For her.

" Answer my question, Commander, have you ever thought about fucking me?" she murmured. She tilted his head and bit the pinna of his ear, his hips unbiddingly snapping up to meet hers in the chair. She groaned and laughed at his reflexive thrust. Nyota was being tortuous it appeared on purpose. Stop, why would she not stop?

" Spock,...you can't lie." she said gripping his hair within her fist. He could feel her desire to have always wanted to as she did so. She yanked his head back and his neck followed, exposing his throat to her. She dipped her head and placed teasing, nibbled bites ascending up towards his jaw. She caught his heavy lidded eye and winked at him right as she licked underneath his chin. He made a whining sound and she giggled again.

" Spock, my answer. The truth or I won't stop." she said with another firm yank to his scalp. He swallowed harshly and panted like a stag tired from the chase.

"Yes." he whispered, ashamed.

" Yes what?" She said running a finger down around his adam's apple. Spock shuttered. Could this be a hallucination? When she bit his ear again and he knew it to be real.

" Yes, I've...imagined having intercourse with you." he said meekly. She seemed pleased and he thought for a moment that her torment of his body was over.

He was wrong.

She pushed his head towards her chest and he jerked as his check made contact with her small, soft breasts. She hummed and tried to push him back. " Touch me Spock." she moaned into his ear. " No one will know, unless I want them to..."

He looked at her puzzled by her words. " What do you mean unless..."

" Exactly as I said it Commander." she threatened with a smirk. " Now, kiss me or else."

Never in his musing had he dared to daydream of something so racy happening between him and the Cadet. There would be thoughts of brushing her fingers with his or placing a chaste kiss on her cheek near her mouth but not quite touching her lips. He imagined her docile and shy, learning his body as well as his mind. He would picture that they would finally consummate after the 10th or 11th dinner, caught up in the moment of no longer wanting to deny each other or what they felt.

It would be docent and slow and he would be gentle with her as she was always a virgin in these visions. She would cry from the pain and Spock would comfort her feeling a supreme sense of male pride in being her first.

How far these thoughts were from the truth. How much had his recurring dreams of making love to Uhura turned into a passionate daymare of reality?

He released her hips and braced his hands on the side of the chair getting ready to stand up. She made her move then.

Her small hands pulled at his hair, exposing the thick column of his neck while her hips ground down on his with a purpose. He hissed lowly at the onslaught, her tongue laving its way up his neck towards his jaw. Nyota whispered in his ear, things that he had never heard of, things that she would do to him.

" Did you ever picture yourself coming inside of me, Commander?" she moaned and he came with a startling intensity, growling out her name in frustrated snarl while the arms of the chair splintered and crackled beneath the force of his grip. She did not cease rolling against him until his body slumped against the back of the chair.

She stood up with satisfied sigh, straightening her skirt and patting her jacket flat where it was buckling up.

" I don't know about you but I have a lot of work to do! I'm going to take the last of these reports to my room and then start on my communication IV midterm paper." she said with a yawn and a stretch, eyeing him with a look that he had seen on the cadet Kirk's face many times before when looking at women walking across campus. He believed it was termed smugness.

She reached down and ruffled his hair. " You may wanna go and clean up before what you did wets through boxers and onto your slacks."

She gathered the said PADDs in her bag and walked out of his office, giving him a lerchous glance behind her. " See you later, Commander."

Spock still dazed, replied automatically with her rank and watched her leave the door slid shut after her exit.

****He looked down at his slacks as his semen created a moist blotch in the dark gray fabric with a frown.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: So here's two and it will probably be a little bit before three comes out so I can make sure to post on my other story. As others may have noticed Nyota's a bit OOC but I need her that way for this story. GTG now, errands and such. Good news though Sokona's going to post soon on Stelam and Valyria has two delightful S/A fics out right now so go and read up! As always no beta, sorry for typos and please review for the review whore in me.

Spock exited his office and surveyed the hallway. He noticed Uhura's jacket and PADD-bag in the room but no other sign of whether she would return sooner than later. He decided to lock the room for the security of her belongings and walked off in the direction of his next class.

He was surprised to find her grading the assignments there in the classroom seated in the front row with her legs neatly crossed. She looked up and shot him a quick smile.

" Commander Spock."

He swallowed and regarded her warily, memories of yesterday's encounter still fresh on his mind as if they had just happened. " Cadet Uhura."

She went back to checking and marking as soon as he acknowledged her, so engrossed that he thought for a moment that she was embarrassed at her behavior with him during their last lunch. He found himself feeling much more at ease around her with that being the possible prospect. It was a more logical conclusion as to why the cadet did not engage him in small talk as she typically displayed.

He arranged his PADDs on the lantern to his satisfaction, looking up every so often to watch Nyota busy at work looking over her set of electronic files. He found himself missing her voice despite the peace she was giving him now. Why wouldn't she say something more like needlessly asking after his sleep patterns the night before or if he had partaken of a sufficient morning meal?

Voices and footsteps drifted down the hallway as students started to file in from the back of the classroom, taking their usual seats while talking amongst themselves. Spock loaded the blue board with his PADD notes shining brightly in white, reference material off to the side in dark purple.

He allowed their idle chatter before the start of the class but not a moment after as a way of breaking even with his students. He did not want to be seen as a stickler, just a professor whose Vulcan education could benefit many here at Starfleet academy.

In addition to his lecture series, Spock also offered extracurricular studies in memory retention and recall. Despite their biologically unreliable memories, he found that his humans pupils benefited a great deal from this tutelage. He placed three fingers on the board and drew up the time for the next session that would take place at his apartment building's lounge area.

Pike suggested, after many failed attempts to connect with the student body, that he open up his home and offer educational assistance for those in need. " It will make a great impact on the way their view you, Spock. You'll no longer be the unfriendly Vulcan professor but the teacher that wishes to see all of them succeed." the Captain had mused over drinks at the old 602 club. " Just give it an old college try."

Spock huffed aloud as he continue to load that day's notes onto the board. If they need assistance that was what his lab hours were for. And unfriendly? Compared to most Vulcans' experiences of interacting with humans he would appear unnecessarily generous and overly familiar. He jaw flinched in remembrance of his behavior yesterday with Nyota and how his previous assessment of his disposition could not be any more valid.

She had kissed him and he had kissed her back!

How ludicrous the whole encounter had been, he acted like a feeble-minded, Va'Tosh ka'tur ( Vulcan without logic) being led around by his lok instead of his reasoning. The whole experience has been frightening as it had been pleasurable which is it say it had been absolutely terrifying.

Spock had barely been able to control himself as she listed off in great detail all the activities she wished to engage him in. Oh and how he had wanted to participate, desired to willingly volunteer his time and effort to seeing them fulfilled that very day but he knew the urge to do so to be as damning as the illegal action itself so he stayed his hand and groaned hoarsely beneath her as she tested his willpower's stamina and the absorbancy of his slacks. It wouldn't happen again, he would see to it.

After he finished arranging links and diagrams on the board he turned to towards his class to begin.

" Please go to location 623.37 on your PADDs as we discuss the quat..."

Spock stammered he caught sight of Nyota looking him over hungrily with her legs wide open beneath her desk. Her panties were no wear in sight and he had a full frontal view of her wet and rosy pink sex.

She sucked gently on her bottom lip as her hand traveled down to settle its fingers between the folds, circling her clitorus with half-hooded eyes, unbeknownst to anyone other than himself.

He swallowed and look back at the curious faces now zeroing in on him as to why he stopped. Spock inhaled sharply, frazzled once again by his TA's sensual behavior. When she closed her eyes and spread her labia apart he made a strangled whimper.

" Pardon me, as we discuss the dynamics of quantum theory as it applies to dark matter." he clearing his throat as if he just need to cough. He needed to do far more than that.

He looked back at Nyota only to find the situation growing worse. She casually let down her hair with one hand as the other was still busy at work between her legs. She bit at her lip and winked as she caught his eyes, continuing the rouse of still going over his paperwork as the hair in her hair went back to the PADDs.

Spock grabbed at a glass of water there at the podium and dragged his eyes away from her.

What should he do? Logic dictated that this was nearly the time nor the place for such...expressions of passion. Should he ask her to leave? Would she protest? Would the other student grow suspicious of him doing so? Right now none of them had given her a second glance but if Spock called on her surely everyone would look at her. Would they think that her hand was innocently laying in her lap or deduce that it was up to something more nefarious?

Spock didn't want to take the chance so he went all with his lesson as he thought of other possible solutions.

" As far as we can gather at this moment in science, dark matter can only be detected by its effects on visible matter, whether gravitational orbits or radiation emission." he said activating a vid on the bluescreen to bring up a holo of the swirling milky way.

He dared a glance over in Nyota's direction and cleared his throat once more as he took in her slender fingers sinking slowly inside her. If he strained he swore he could hear how wet she was as the glided in and out of her body. Look away he commanded himself.

" The milky way galaxy spins twice as fast as Andromeda galaxy due largely in part to a greater quantity of dark matter increasing the pull of..."

He stopped as his eyes crossed over Nyota's open mouth expression as she dragged moisture from her fingertips over her clit, circling the nub with increasing speed and force. His ears twitched as he caught the sound of her light, breathy pants under the clicks and taps of his students working on their PADDs.

Spock stepped behind the podium, his erection now becoming painfully obvious as he bore witness to his assistant masturbating for his viewing pleasure. Or misery, he wasn't quite sure yet.

Spock continued his halting presentation, no longer mustering the strength to look away at the provocative sight before him. His water pitcher, normally only down a glass or two after a day's worth of lectures was nearly empty as he poured the dredges into his glass.

" The school of engineering has partnered with the school of astrophysics to work on a sensory array to detect what frequency dark matter may emit some sort of marker. Until a one views the space through a host of lenses and telescopes one may think all that exists there is what is visible in the night sky. X rays, Ultraviolet, infrared and many other such scales have shown us that there is a great many scenes being played out in the universe, we need only find a scope in which to view..."

Nyota moaned softly and uttered his name, too quiet for others to hear but for him it came through perfectly as if she had whispered into his ear. His lok strained painfully against his pants eager to sink into where his eyes heatedly fixed upon.

He coughed once more and tried weakly to tamp down his arousal by drinking more water. Nyota smiled coyly as she brought her soaking wet fingers up to her mouth and dipped them between her lips, sucking greedily at the slick nectar of her sex before releasing the digits with a loud, obscene pop.

Spock choked and sputtered on the water he was consuming and his pale face growing fern green as he fought to recover his composure.

" Class dismissed." he exhaled before going into another fit of coughing.

" Sir, are you okay?"

Who was that? He looked up to see Cadet Sulu, his face twisted in concern along with the rest of his pupils.

" I am well." he croaked roughly as his windpipe sought to rid itself of the offense moisture.

" You sure you don't need to see a doctor? You seem ill?" the command track cadet pressed.

He knew himself to be in prime condition, all bodily systems working in sync. He was merely struggling with powerful temptation to mount his TA, was all.

" I assure you, I am in satisfactory health. I merely need a brief rest before my next class." he said, still clearing his throat. " I will post the assigned reading and along with today's lesson to your folders this evening for review."

" Don't trouble yourself Commander, that's my job, I will do it." Nyota said in a sugary, sweet tone Spock had to will himself not to sneer at.

" No Cadet, you have already done enough." he said, emphasising his words with a slight frown. He was confused to see her pout and leave the classroom in a huff behind the other Cadets. How had he wronged her? It was she who was acting out of line.

Spock wait until he awkward cover his erection in front of his instead of his typical backhanded method.

As he walked back to his office he tried to no avail to repress the images of Nyota pleasuring herself and his imagined vision of pulling her up by the waist and taking her there right on the desk in front of his class. His lok and scotrom ached with the need for release and he contemplated doing just that in the privacy of his office before snorting quietly to himself.

Privacy, what privacy? He had little doubt that if Nyota caught him in the act that she would promptly bend over and beg for him to have her right then and there, as she looked over her shoulder with those smoldering, dark brown eyes of hers. He gritted his teeth and steeled himself for a painful 2 hours until his ardor would become flaccid once more, opening the door to his office with a quiet hiss.

Nyota was at her desk, typing away innocently but the scent of her earlier 'task' inflamed his nostrils and perfumed his small office like a perverted potpourri. It smelled sweet and earthy, like that of unfiltered honey. His mouth watered while his lok flared with disapproval against his trowsers. Both he and his member wished to get their fill but they was nothing to do but go to his desk and sit down with a resentful glare. There would be none of that.

" Oh Commander, I made you some tea. It should help clear your passageways."

That you so helpfully caused to flood when I choked on the water? Oh, Nyota you are too kind.

" Thank you." he said gruffly, pulling up his draw to fetch his mug when he slammed it shut.

" What's the matter?" Nyota asked standing up with the teapot cupped between her hands.

Spock stared at her as he opened the drawer once more and fished out a black lacy looking pair of panties between his thumb and forefinger. He was not sure which side to be the front or the back. How troubling.

" I believe these are yours, Cadet. Endeavor to leave your undergarments upon your person and no where near my belongings. Your behavior as of late has disturbed me to no end and I feel compelled to report you."

She beamed and took them into her hands after placing the teapot on his desk. " You want to but you won't."

She slipped them on one leg at a time watching his face as his eyes traced the journey of her underwear up under her skirt. She turned a bit to the side and he found himself inhaling at the sight of her bare backside as the ornate string flitted across her cheeks. He immediately wanted the underwear back off again, if not to possess them then to see her put them back on again.

He quickly looked away and poured himself some tea with the mug he pulled from his drawer, the green and red hearted mug she had given him on Valentine's Day. He should have seen it then, the way she would watch him happily as he drank from the mug with a smile plastered on her face or the way she would sigh as the steam would curl up and around his face. She had always been friendly if not affectionate with him, which pleased him as he had always felt deeply kindred towards her but had she always...liked him as he favored her?

Either way, this situation was getting way out of hand. His use of idioms had risen significantly since her arrival as his aid, something of which he did not necessarily deem to be a bad development but it looked as if his lust for her would grow as well and that was highly problematic.

He desired her but could not have her. She wanted him but could not secure him. Instead of making peace with the fact that they should not seek each other out as something more than shipmates, Nyota took to torturing both of them with something they couldn't have between them.

Whatever her logic was behind her actions, the reasons could not compensate for her lewd behavior. Humans barely had any logic to begin with and Nyota, one of his best and brightest students, was slowly losing her grip on hers and pulling him down with her. If he didn't find a logical arrangement upon which he could find safe harbor they would both drown in the fervid madness her infatuation had created.

" Don't worry about posting the assignments and lesson today I already did. You seemed so...stressed How is your tea?" she asked gathering her satchel and jacket before walking over to his desk.

" It is sufficiently brewed." he commented dryly. He watched her reach out and lightly trace the handle of the porcelain pitcher, her black nail polish gleaming like polished onyx set into her fingers. Her scent was still heavy upon them but he wished to have more. He found himself calling out her name and acting on impulse only.

" Nyota?"

Her head popped up to attention at the casual use of her name. " Yes, Spock?" she questioned in kind.

He looked up at her from under his thick, arched brow and exhaled. " Touch yourself."

Her eyelids flickered as she slowly complied with her right hand. He watched her and sipped at his tea as she slipped past her underwear. Spock only watched her, he did not touch her, that was not breaking any regulations necessarily, was it? Possibly 92 article 14 but it would be left to interpretation.

Her arousal grew stronger and he sighed at her with a hum, eyes heavy and half-lidded. " Stop."

Her whimpered a bit but stilled her hand. Spock poured more tea into the lukewarm liquid already in his mug and slid it over toward her.

" Stir my tea with your fingers."

She smirked with a light smack of her lips, dipping her fingers into the hot water, sucking at the air between her teeth as she did so. When she took her fingers away Spock retrieved the mug between his hands and brought it to his face. Spock looked up to see if she was watching as he then closed his eyes and inhaled the new aroma. His throat rumbled deeply with a low, dark growl as he brought the rim of the cup to his lips and felt the hot liquid slide past his tongue.

Nyota did taste good, just as he had suspected, a mellow sweetness. He quaffed the rest of the drink down in one, quick drag and licked at his lips. He heard her moan and felt the air shifted around him as she stepped around the desk to stand beside him.

" Spock..." she whispered, reaching out with a hand to cup his cheek when he open his eyes suddenly and seized it, the mug forgotten and sent falling to the desk in a loud thump and roll.

His second eyelids covered his lenses reflexively, highlighting her wetness in bright smugs against her fingers. Still growling he deposited two of her fingers into his mouth licking at them hungrily, his teeth nipping at her soft skin. She curled her fingers along the pointed tips, tempting him to mark her.

" Spock..."

He vee'd her fingers with his tongue and sucked harder.

"Spock..."

He gently pricked her fingertips pads and laved away at the blood that budded up on top of them like precious, red pearls. More.

" Commander, are you awake? Earth to Commander Spock."

He blinked and focused on the mug in his hands and then up at Nyota, who looked him over with amused concern.

" There you are! You drifted off there for a moment I was just asking about your tea?"

He looked down at the pale pink water and blinked in confusion. He had daydreamed? For how long? So he had not touched her hand or performed Vulcan fellatio upon her fingers? He wanted to sigh with relief as much as he wished to pick up where the vision had left off. Clearly his imagination had got the better of him. He had to stay on top of it or he would end up on top of her.

" It is satisfactory, thank you Cadet."

She nodded and adjusted the strap to her bag. " My pleasure, Commander. If you have anything else you want me to do, you only need to ask."

Their eyes met and a cool, tingle ran down Spock's back.

" Thank you, Cadet. The tea is more than enough, though I must ask that you act with a measure more decorum than you have been exhibiting past two days. If not, I will have to remove you from your position as my aid and seek out the panel for disciplinary actions against you. You are an exceptional student Cadet Uhura, do not let your attraction towards me sully not only yours but my reputation as well. We are teacher and student, commanding officer and cadet, there are lines that we can not cross." he told her firmly setting down the mug gently on the desk. " If you do not leave now, you will be late for your next class."

If she was disappointed by his answer she did not show it, she simply nodded before heading out the door.

Spock lifts the teapot to pour another cup when her scent brushed against his nose once more with the movement of the air.

He finished the brew before adding his own scent on top of hers, his office now smelling of sex. Looking down at his hand webbed in semen, he felt a pang of shame lance through him. Once again his logic had failed him and he was left with yet another mess to clean.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks to Valyria for giving me feedback on this chapter. All the typos are mine, I didn't torture her with having to spend days and days editing it so sorry ya'll. Only one possibly two more chapters to go. Thanks for all the reviews, they helped to craft this chapter along with urging me to continue. Again Sokona, I hope you like your gift.**

" Will that be all, Mr. Spock?" the building manager asked. Every weekend since he started his memorization sessions Mrs. Gustafson oversaw the preparation of his meeting space with a speed and efficiency that both intrigued and relieved the Vulcan.

He turned from the window and observed the refreshments and snack foods spread out along the coffee table in the sterile looking clubroom. They were complementary as a part of the rental of the room so he saw no fault in what he considered an extraneous factor. With in her experience of having both alien and human tenants, the manager had a special disposition when it came to accommodating mixed groups. In other words, she was an exceptional hostess.

" Yes, thank you, Mrs. Gustafson. Please escort any guest looking for my session here."

" Of course, Mr. Spock." she said with a nod of her head, her short blonde bob bouncing with the movement before turning on her heels and heading down the hallway.

He memorization classes were a favorite among the 1st and 2nd year students who were more amenable to giving up a Saturday afternoon for studies but he had 3rd and 4th years that would come sit in to pick up tips when they struggled with a particularly hard course. Word soon spread that Spock was teaching a 'special mind trick' that helped retain information longer and made recall easy like that of Vulcans which was a rumor he did not work to correct.

He found that human loved intrigue and there was a certain type of mystique surrounding his father's people that the thought of taking away such beloved fables as 'mind control' and ' pronged pensises' made Spock sad. If they really wanted to know they could just ask.

They might like that truth could be stranger than fiction.

" Commander Spock?"

Spock spun away from the window quickly, probably looking like a suspicious Andorian as Nyota's voice tore him from his musing.

" Cadet,...what are you doing here?" he asked, already knowing the most logical answer to be the most likely reply. What was the matter with him? That was such a human thing to say, clearly she was here to either learn or assist in his lesson today.

" I just thought I'd come by and help if you needed me to. I've never attended a class and it seemed like I should sit in on a few. Having to cram vocabulary of a few hundred languages can be a little daunting." she smiled with a laugh.

She wore her standard issued boots under a flared pair of blue jeans topped with a loose cable knit sweater in peach and lime. The colors reminded him of the mug and he pictured her in cupped in his hands instead of the ceramic piece.

" Would you like me to pass out the PADDs?" she asked placing her bag down on a chair near where he stood.

He took an unconscious sniff and quickly licked his lips.

She smelled like the lemongrass-pomegranate tea she had given him with the mug and brewed yesterday. Or was it that the tea contained notes that smelled like her?

Lemongrass, hibiscus, passion fruit, pomegranate, white tea and Uhura Nyota?

" That won't be necessary. Typically they approach me and I hand them a data crystal to load onto their personal PADD but I have extra if the student is in need of one or their current PADD does not have enough storage to upload the files."

Nyota nodded her head at his logic, illogically pleasing him to no end and pulled out a canteen with what smelled like the brew he had just been dissecting in his mind. She looked up to find him looking back at her as she drank and they held the stare longer than either species would deem appropriate.

" That tea that you brought me along with the mug was quite delectable." he said lowering his eyes to her lips.

" Oh, really? I'm wasn't sure if you would like it. It's so terran in flavor."

" I like terran." he said, tilting his head to get a better view of her neck as she sipped from the container. So long and delicate looking.

" The tea caught me by surprise with its change in flavors. While brewing it taste almost sweet. Then after 4 to 5 minutes it tastes quite tangy followed by a sharp and sour bitterness."

Nyota looked at Spock in surprise. " Wow, you got all that out of one cup huh? It just tastes tangy to me. Maybe my palate isn't as sophisticated as yours."

" Perhaps. I gathered all of this after two pots of it. I needed to have a control as well as an experiment."

Nyota smirked at what he clearly intended to be a joke of her having a poor palate and was just about to tease him back when the first three of what would later be twenty people came into the room. Spock was equal parts pleased and surprised by the turnout, putting him in a mood to even tolerate Cadet Lamb's trivial and irrelevant line of questioning.

" Are you sure this will help me with memorizing all the formulas in my astrophysics midterm? I can't get them straight at all!" she sniffled. Spock's eyebrows nearly met in the middle as he witnessed the Cadet's emotional display. She looked on the verge of tears and she was looking up at him with a trembling lip.

" I assure you Cadet, that with the right application and dedication to your studies you will succeed with these techniques and have little trouble in your completion of that course. You must commit yourself to memorizing the correct formula for the corresponding problem and be able to recall it at will. It takes more effort to relearn something than it does to learn it the first time."

Whether she found his speech soothing was beyond him as she tearfully departed the room clutching her PADD like a life preserver.

" Ugh it's snowing! I knew I should have brought a coat, but this sweater was so bulky under my Cadet's uniform jacket." Nyota grumbled looking out the window at the icy flakes.

" You may borrow one of my pieces of outerwear if you wish?" Spock offered.

She nodded yes still looking out at the snow as he gathered the extra PADDs and placed all the food items into the recycler.

" Follow me."

Spock lead her down the hallway trying not to look down and watch her as she paced him. He noted how closely Nyota followed at his side, like a demure Odile, gracefully keeping in step with his long strides. He always wanted to ask her if she was a dancer, a ballerina in particular. Her movement always seemed purposeful and controlled. To catch her in the gym practicing martial arts had been a guilty past time of his of late. He could not give a reason as to why he enjoyed seeing her move only that he did. That troubled his logical sensibilities but did not stop him once.

So enraptured with observing his TA, who was now smiling back at him, Spock didn't notice the column that they were coming up on.

He smacked right into with a loud thunk against his the side of his head and chest and fell back onto the floor with an undignified thud on his back. Nyota yelped in surprise and crouched down beside him, forgetting her manners once more and cupped his face to check him over.

" Spock! Are you okay?!" she said, her voice full of distress.

He looked up at her with sleepy eyes, his face flushed bright green as he felt her adoration for him seep through her small soft hands. " I..."

He was at a lost for words. More and more his TA's casualness left him speechless, whether real or imagined. Was this even real? She reached back and caressed his ear that had hit up against the pole tenderly from lobe to tip with a wistful look on her face. It certainly felt real.

" Let's get you to your apartment so you can lie down, sir. You're greener than I've ever seen you. Come on before somebody mistakes you for an upended turtle." she cooed pulling at his arm, straining as his heavy weight held him firmly to the ground. Taking pity on her he shifted forward and rose back up onto his feet. Returning to his senses a bit he looked about somewhat nervously curious to see if anyone had seen him. Or them.

" I in no way resemble a terrapin, upside down or otherwise. Let me first get you a coat, then I will lie down." Spock said briskly.

It wasn't Nyota fault he was distracted by her but it did make being around her difficult. Even now on the turbolift, he wondered at her presence today and whether he should have just asked her to wait in the lobby while he brought down a jacket for her. It would have been the more logical solution to avoiding whatever was happening between them. Or to himself.

He kept his eyes ahead of him as he made his way down to his door. Spock felt a pair of arms embrace his middle from behind, the hands running down over the sharp v of his pelvis, patting against where his lok lay in his pants, knowingly.

He looked down perplexed when he saw nothing there. Looking over his shoulder, Nyota was still behind him but her hand were busy tugging at her shoulder strap and fiddling with a loose strand of hair.

Spock shook his head a bit as he keyed in his access code and stood aside for Nyota to enter. Maybe he should lie down if only to meditate.

" My closet is to the right in the bedroom" Spock gestured with a bob of his head and Nyota went off in that direction in search for something warm.

" Thanks so much, Spock. I don't know what I'd do without you." she called from the bedroom.

He went to the kitchen and turned on his kettle for tea, listening to her thump around in the closet with murmured hmms and ohs. Someone was certainly enjoying themselves.

He reached into the cabinet and selected the tea that Nyota had brought for him with the intentions of drinking it with her before her departure. Stuffing the leaves into a brewing basket inside each cup he poured the water over both of them and inhaled the citrus fragrance.

" Have you found a garment that can fit you?" he inquired while sipping at the hot tea.

" Maybe. I found something that I would just love to wear around my room! Do you have an extra one of these robes?"

Spock finished his tea and walked out with his mug in hand rounding the corner to see which article of clothing she was asking after.

His mug crashed against the floor as he took in the vision of Nyota in the hallway. " Cadet Uhura!"

" What? You don't like it?"

She stood there in the doorway, his richly colored silken robe hanging heavy on her slim shoulders. She had not secured it and from the small slit of an opening Spock spied her nude body beneath.

Nyota smoothed her palms along the sides of the robes, emphasising her slight waist. He estimated it to be about 23 7/8 inches around. Give or take an 1/8th.

" Why did you try that on?" he asked not wanting to question where the rest of her clothes had gone.

" Sorry, I can take it off. I didn't mean anything by it. I just thought it was beautiful is all." she said sadly, slipping the robe off one slender shoulder at a time.

Spock panicked as she became more exposed, her breasts rising and falling with each breath, the fabric that brushed over her nipples as it departed left them stiff and tight. A image of chocolate appeared in his mind and he wondered if the buds taste just as sweetly as the confection or melt against the warm rasp of his tongue.

" Please, do not remove it yet. Go into the bathroom to do so and I shall meet you there with the rest of your clothing." he chided her, holding his face away from where she stood.

" Okay..."she acquiesced and walked off to the bathroom connected to his bedroom.

Spock spun and rushed back into the kitchen and drained the mug of tea he had prepared for her in one long gulp. The heat of the liquid soothed his throat from its constriction as he fought to remain calm and not pin her against the wall or throw her out the door.

She was driving him mad.

It was enough with the daydreams he had been suffering but Nyota had pulled him to his wits end. He could barely tell what was imagined or reality. Even now he wondered about her behavior in classroom. Had he really seen her, or saw what he wanted to see? Either prospect was inconvenient in its own way, but he didn't know which should concern him more. Whether they both wanted each other or if he wanted her even more than she knew.

He poured some more water and had another cup to calm himself before entering his bedroom in order to gather her clothes.

But there were none there.

He twisted and looked this way and that, tearing at the item still laying neatly along the floor of his closet but could not find any.

She had nothing on underneath his robe, he had seen it! Saw her bare breasts, noted the soft dip of her belly button and lower still the dark thatch of hair he had just seen yesterday as she exposed her sex in his classroom.

He panted and continued to look around frantically when he heard the shower activate.

" No..." he whispered, running to the bathroom door as it opened for him to reveal a bathing Nyota. Warm steam misted around the tiny room as she drew the cube door open and stared at him from underneath her dark, wet lashes.

" Wanted to join me?"

Spock back up into the wall, his eyes roving over her of their own accord. His mind against his will took copious notes of her figure, the way her soapy hands crossed over her torso and the way her bottom gave a slight bounce as she turned her back into the spray. Then they moved on in unison to monitor the way the water trickled down her hair and copied the image of the soapy islands of suds as they ran off her shoulders down the muscled dip of her spine along the crease of her ass and finally down the inside of her leg.

" You just going to stand there?" she giggled stepping out of the cubicle and over to where he stood.

" You should not...we should not..." he stuttered, unable to keep his horror off his face. His eyes fluttered as she approached him and pressed herself against him. Her wet hands splayed against his cheeks, and he shivered from their coolness. Catching her wrists, he pulled her off and away to look at her in the face.

" Please..." he pleaded.

" Please what Spock? What do you want?"

If she only knew, only knew how very much he wanted her, right here, right now. His mind was racing with probability equations in varied percentages of their chances of being caught, her becoming pregnant or them continuing this reckless behavior and having intercourse once again.

Nyota was his closest companion besides Pike but unlike the Captain, Spock felt a deep, romantic draw towards the Cadet. She enjoyed his attempts at humor, she survived and tempered his stubbornness, she sought out his company past an educational means whether appropriate and kept him company during his meal times on campus. She embraced him like no other human had at Starfleet and he doubted ever would. And he wanted to embrace her as well. All of her.

Spock suddenly drew her back against him, still holding her wrist as he lowered his forehead and bumped it lightly against hers. Nyota nuzzled his nose and kissed him lightly. She was so chilly, she was shivering. He should warm her.

He turned them to his bed and pushed her onto it with his body and pinned her there with his mouth. Oh, how good she tasted, how warm! No, those were vague notions, she tasted exceptional and her mouth was a pleasant 98.6 degrees. She kissed him back, her fingernails digging into the back of his hands and he purred into her mouth at the sting. She paused, he could feel her curiosity at the rumbling noise but when she saw he was content and meant no harm she went back to rolling her tongue against his.

He pulled up a bit releasing her hands which automatically fixed themselves onto his shoulders trying to draw Spock closer. She looked at him and rolled her hips against his and he pushed back crushing her into the mattress. She broke the kiss and moaned his name her fingers tugging lightly at the tips of his ears. He was at her neck, lapping and nipping at it as he struggled to free himself from his pants with one hand and brace himself from crushing her with the other.

He looked down at her and groaned as he took in the sight below his body. Wet and naked, Nyota trembled from both the cold air and her lust. Or was it his lust.

He shielded himself so not to drown her with his own passion and rubbed his pelvis against her. She was welcomingly hot and she wrapped her long legs about his lower back and resumed their kiss. This time around their kissing was more experimental, a bite here and a suck there but it was no less heated than the last.

Spock was hard and throbbing against her and he longed to sink into her but he held back.

He shouldn't be doing this, nothing about this was legal other than they were two consenting adults in the privacy of his home. She was his subordinate, it was his duty to her to see that he not abuse his power and always have the interests of Starfleet and those below him on the chain of command at heart.

Oh but how he wanted her. Spock rolled his head along her neck as he entered her in halted, slow stroke. Every time she flinched around him he would hold himself still, trying hard to ignore her nails clawing at him to continue, before he slid deeper still.

She whimpered as he brushed something back inside of her and he felt his face blush, as his mind asphyxiated from his flooding desire. He tilted her hips until he felt a flare of pleasure shoot up inside her and held that position. Spock hunched over her, cupped her bottom and rocked against her in deep, steady strokes. He burned to bury himself into her heat with no abandon but even now his worry beat at him, his fear that he would lose himself and hurt her.

They shouldn't be doing this.

Nyota did not make it easy for him. She arched with a low moan, raking his back as his mouth caught one of her nipples in his mouth. She twisted and pushed against him craving more.

" Faster." she huffed but he only did so fractionally.

She pulled at his hair and growled in frustration. " Harder, Spock! Fuck me!"

Spock shut his eyes tightly and clenched his jaw. " Nyota, I may hurt you."

" I want you."

" But..."

" Sanoi..."

He growled and latched his mouth onto her shoulder and took her in a pace at left her breathless. He licked at her skin and dug his fingers into the plump flesh of her bottom as he snapped his hip against hers, his lok inflaming her just as her words had kindled him.

" Ha, sanoi, weh, weh!" she whimpered into his ear, her legs that were wrapped around his waist fall free and hanging limply over either side of his as he gave her more of what she asked for.

He was growling now, snarling at her and lifting her up higher by her hips and slammed into her. She clawed at the sheets and wailed his name as she submitted to the first tremor of her climax.

He lowered his head and kissed her mouth as she keened once more. She broke the kiss and gasped for air.

" Spock!"

He snarled against her holding his jaw shut so not to mark her, grabbed at the comforter on either side of her head to deter his hands from latching onto her face for a meld and groaned low as he emptied himself into Nyota in a hot, gushing torrent. She whined and wriggled beneath him, clenching around his lok as his smoldering seed seared her quivering sex.

He panted and closed his eyes, trying to dampen his senses. He already felt overwhelmed with the sensation of touching her, being inside of her and hearing her wanton mewing that fluttered past his ear. He swallowed and felt himself grow hard again despite his fatigue. She was just so beautiful and now that he had her once he could not help himself from indulging once more. Or thrice if she was amenable.

Spock felt her hand softly touch his cheek, and felt her confusion and uncertainty seep into him.

" Spock, are you okay? I thought you wanted to?"

His eyes snapped open to see a fully clothed, completely dry Nyota pinned beneath him, looking up with him in apprehension.

" You wanted to kiss me didn't you? I always thought you liked me but you look like you're regretting it now." she whispered into the quiet of his bedroom.

Her lips were a deep pink and her cheeks were flush no doubt from the action in question. He looked down between them in a small relief to find that joined by his lok. He looked at her neck and notes the angry looking red marks in a suspiciously circular pattern.

"What has happened?" He panted, his eyes flicking back and forth searching her face for answers.

She nibbled on her lip nervously before replying. " I tried on one of your Vulcan robes and you got upset and told me to go to the bathroom and you said you'd bring me some clothing to wear. I was washing my hands when you walked in and looking all dazed. I asked if you were trying to wash up too when you told me please. You took a hold of me and we...sorta kissed and we ended up here. I'm sorry if I've been too forward with you, I just had to know...if you liked me."

The whole time she explained Spock stared at the bite marks along the slim column of her neck. He could not trust himself around her, neither of them were making their situation tolerable.

He stood up and turned his face away from where she was laying on his bed. " Please take a jacket and leave."

" Spock, wait, let's talk." she sat up nervous with this new reaction.

He had always accepted her hugs along with whispered messages across the room but lately he had been reacting strangely. Harshly. One moment giving as much as he took and then rebuking her without warning. Nyota at this point just wanted her friend back. Having him one way was better than not having him at all. Kissing him Thursday had probably been a mistake,..maybe everything that had happened was...she didn't know.

" You may wear the Vulcan robe if you desire but leave now. We will talk Monday."

" Spock." she said gently touching his forearm only to have him shug it off and leave the room to stand by the front door.

" Go. I do not want to hurt you and I fear that I will."

Nyota hurriedly grabbed the robe and her bag and rushed out of the door before the first tear fell from her eyes to her cheek.

" You already have, Spock."

As soon as the door closed Spock slid down the wall to sit on the floor. What had he done?

He looked down to his pants and grunted when he noticed the damp splotch darkening the crotch.

Not Again.


	4. Chapter 4

He spent the rest of the day in the seclusion of his apartment trying to push images Nyota and her parting words from his mind with no success.

The last thing he wanted out of this for them... or however he should classify their relation to one another, was to hurt her. Her dejection as she left his apartment was not lost on him, but how who was he to console her? Her Commander, her friend or someone more? He was sure of the first two to be correct in his assessment but what of the last?

It was late now, 3:14 a.m. as Spock meditated on his bed and tried to think of the best and most logical course of action to take when he arrived on campus Monday morning, still 29 hours and 46 minutes away.

It was clear to him that the most pressing matter was what to do with Cadet Uhura.

Limiting his contact with the cadet would be easy enough, as she was only his TA and no longer took any of his classes. Putting in a request for her removal on the grounds of wanting to oversee grading all his classwork should give her a way of gracefully bowing out without exposing any of her misbehavior.

He still wasn't entirely sure of what if anything had transpired between them with the exception of yesterday afternoon's kiss but even that was solely based on her account.

Could he trust her? She admitted to having an attraction towards him in during her explanation and from what Spock could gather, she had pursued him as a mate or the human given title of a 'boyfriend' since around the time of Valentine's Day.

Would she be honest and tell him something he may not wish to hear or keep him in the dark about what was really going on by telling him something more palatable?

He laid down his side and felt his heart hammer against his ribcage as he wrestled with his conflicting feelings of preserving his good name and reputation and his own affections towards the cadet.

It was the most illogical thing he had come across to fight against. Of course the most logical thing to do was to dismiss her, report her and move on with his life and career in Starfleet but every time the thought crossed his mind his heart would race and his lung constrict. He was pained simply by the thought of being without her.

What little they did share together was about reduced to nothing as soon as he reported to Pike and losing her company grieved him but how could ignore the numerous, logical reasons of why he should avoid Nyota? With every review, each of point grew more sound in its validity.

_She was wholly human to his Vulcan human mix, He was a commander while she was a mere cadet, she was young but would age much more rapidly, he would undergo a violent mating cycle by which she may become injured or worse, she might be disappointed once she came to know him and...hurt him, he may hurt her by not observing human mating customs just as he did on Valentine's, there was also the matter of melding and bonding..._

The list went on and on in his mind until he felt he had exhausted all the rationalities for them to never pursue anything more than a friendship, what would be left of it anyways. Trying to save the both of them from being severely reprimanded or possibly discharged was the logical thing to do, the right thing to do he reasoned.

Then why did it pain him to even _consider_ it?

With a sigh of resignation Spock made up his mind to relieve Nyota of her TA position, report his actions yesterday to Pike and make a conscious effort to distance himself from the Cadet. He nodded to himself grimly and covered himself with the thick duvet in hopes of sleep relieving him from the tension he felt.

* * *

Before reporting to Pike's office, Spock stopped by the Bio lab to record and file the latest results for his experiment of different alien grasses growth rates under the terran conditions.

He walked up to terrarium and peered through the glass. The golden blades of Vulcan yar remained short and stubby, looking starved for more heat and light while the Denobulian stalks brushed its gaudy fuchsia leaves up against the dome's top.

" You're having me reassigned?!"

Startled, Spock stood up and spun around to face a teary eyed Nyota. She was panting and her uniform was rumpled as if she had run all the way from her dorm. She locked the door and ran over towards him.

" Given the circumstances it was the logical thing to do."

" How is it logical if we were both happy with me being your TA? I'm the only one who has ever stayed on! Doesn't my dedication mean anything to you, Commander?!" she sobbed, crowding Spock up against the lab table behind him. Test tubes tinkled in their holders and he looked behind him to check that none of them had fallen when she grabbed his chin and directed his face towards her.

" I'm not leaving, sir." she sniffled. " You'll just have to deal with the tension between us, unless you want to take the means to relieve it...?"

She pressed against him, twisting her hips against his and stepping up on her toes to push her cheek to his. It was wet with tears and the soft skin beneath it swelled with the emotion of longing.

" Cadet Uhura, you are out of line." he growled out, he patience lost and his ire rising at her unsolicited touch. He gently pushed her off and away and she narrowed her eyes, still shiny with tears.

" Maybe you need a reminder of my qualifications, sir!" she mocked, walking around him and to the table where she cleared his workspace of beakers and pipettes with one quick swipe of her arm and knocked him back onto the free space of the table while he stood there in shock.

" Nyota! What has gotten into you?!" he hissed at her, as she quickly climbed on top of him, straddled his lap. He held her wrists as she started to unbutton his slacks. She struggled to free herself and when she found her attempt to fruitless she glared at him.

" Let me go." she commanded .

" No. Promise to remove yourself from my person. This is against regulation number..."

" And what regulation is this breaking, Spock?" she jeered, rolling her hips up against his growing erection. His eyes widen in dismay, did she know that he found the whole situation thrilling as he did abhorrent?

" If you don't let me go Spock, I'll scream."

He looked up at her as she sat perched upon his lap with her mascara running tiny black stripes down her face.

" You would not." he said through clenched teeth.

" You wanna try me, Commander? You tried to get rid of me, rid of us and you didn't think I would fight for our love? I wouldn't be so quick to further irritate me by keeping me from doing what we both want me to do."

" Love?! Irritate you? And what is is we both want?" he huffed incredulously. She inhaled deeply and made like she was about to yell when Spock released his hold.

Nyota swiftly went to work on his belt buckles and the fly of his pants. As she freed his lok, Nyota took it firmly between her hands and stroked it. He groaned and jerked his hips into her touch, glaring at her all the while. How was it that she was so well versed in how to please him?

" We both want each other, sir. Admit Commander, you want me." she teased, lifting her behind and sliding her panties over to the side and aligned their bodies. " Why would you deny yourself the pleasure of taking me in the lab? A little, naughty 'afternoon delight' to pick up your mood."

" My mood needs no alterations." he growled, grinding his teeth. She circled her hips above him, coating him with her wetness and he heard himself groan low in his throat as if from a distance.

So good, how could something feel so good that it could only be defined by a vague, mediocre word?

The head of his lok was swallowed inside her heated sex and he bite the inside of his cheek, tasting the metallic tang of his blood filling his mouth. She threw her head back and moaned his his name and he reached up released her hair from the confines of the elastic band with a loud snap.

" Please tell me, Spock. Tell me that you always wanted me." she begged, her voice deep and raspy as she teased him with a wiggle of her pelvis.

He sucked the air sharply and moaned. " I want you, Nyota. Like this."

" That's all I needed to hear."

She mounted him in with a sharp dip of her hips and rode Spock like he was her prize stallion. She clawed at his jacket as his hands found her hips, holding her steady from a bouncy canter to a gallop as his hips rose up to slam into hers.

" Oh, oh yes!" she squealed, her delight in his flooding him as she reached up stroking his face and ears.

He grunted as she leaned forward and licked his lips, prodding them open and then launching an assault within his mouth. Again he tasted the tea, along with what might have been a strawberry scone and clotted cream but that wasn't the best part, the taste that drove him mad as her tongue curled against his when he struck a particularly sensitive spot within her. No, not the fruit or the tea, but her.

" Oh damn you feel so good Spock! I always knew you would. I already feel like I'm about to come." she gasped against his mouth and took ahold of his shoulders.

" Then do so." he hummed.

She whined as he picked up speed and held her hips in an almost painful grip. Nyota reached down with her hand circling her clit and closed her eyes as she focused in on the sensation of Spock within her.

" Say you won't let me go. Say you'll keep me."

He looked down and watched as she furiously rubbed at swollen tip peeking through its hood and his lok as he sunk inside her and felt himself teetering on the edge as well.

" What is mine cannot leave me." he growled, his pelvis snapping up hard and deep against hers producing a loud, obscene smack as his hand pushed hers out of the way and busied themselves with working her clit in a way that left her breathless. " Say you're mine, Nyota and you can not leave me."

She bit her lip and her eyes rolled back as she came with violent shiver, her bodying milking him as he strained not to give in. He waited until she was panting in recovery of the first orgasm before sitting up and crushing her slight frame against his, his thick pubic hair tickling against her overly-sensitive clit and sending her into another wave as he surged into her.

" Say it." he snarled into her ear and she bucked against him as she felt her belly coiling tight once more. " Nyota..."

" I'm...yours. I cannot leave you." she whimpered and trembled in his arms. He kissed at her freely and Nyota tearfully keened into his mouth, clawing at his jacket's lapel as she rode the second blissful crush he inflicted upon her.

He watched their reflection on the pale glassy surface of the equipment cabinet. Nyota's hair cascading down her shoulders in a silky, black ribbons, her small torso locked against him in the cage of his arms while plump bottom bounced against the tops of his thighs, raising up on every thrust to reveal him buried deep inside her.

He broked the kiss and licked along her neck, preparing a site for him to bite when the door comm chimed.

He growled and nibbled her earlobe, trying hard to ignore the annoying reet reet buzzing through the air of the unanswered chime.

" Spock" Nyota whimpered, " answer the door..."

He snarled and butted his forehead on hers. " I do not wish to."

" But you have to..."

" I do not." he hissed through his teeth feeling his orgasm fast approaching.

" But..."

" Spock, you in there? It's me Pike. Open up." a voice called out from the comm.

Spock cursed in Vulcan as he held Nyota's neck within his mouth. There was no way or where to hide them, even now Nyota's moaning was growing more shrill as she was fast approaching another climax. His hands slid down and rocked her clit against his pelvic bone, enjoying the resulting squeeze she did around his lok as she shivered once more. " I'm all yours, Spock." she murmured, her lips pushing against his ear. " I'm not leaving you. I can't leave you."

" Spock?" Pike yelled, now banging on the door.

Spock looked at the door and then back at the contented face of Uhura impaled on his lap. " You asked me if I ever imagined coming inside you."

She looked him in the eye as she panted loudly into the air. He come feel her close once more. He sniffed and exhaled. She was insatiable, mad with lust and if it weren't for his knowledge that she was only human he would have thought her under the effects of plak-tow.

" I have. I've imagined it a separate 83 times since I have known you." Her head rolled back as he continued to recount instances of his lewd and reckless imagination. " I have picture us in this lab 48 times, 93 times in my apartment and in my office 176 times. Out of those 400 occasions, 381 of those daydreams you have been a virgin I have deflowered."

She bite into the fabric of his jacket and screamed as she came once more, the knocking at the door now louder and more insistent.

" Spock open up!"

Nyota nibbled at his jaw and held on to his shoulders as she lifted herself up and down along his lok and Spock told hold of the table edges. The wood groaned beneath his grip as the cadet drove him wild with the sway and fall of her hips. He continued to watch in the reflection of the window and snarled as he felt his sakal draw up tight and flood his lok.

" SPOCK!" Chris yelled.

" Just a moment I'm coming ..." he groaned before shut his eyes at the force of his release.

He sat up in his bed, gasping and sputtering as he drenched his sheets in his seed. He looked around in shock, still trying to get his bearings when he heard his door chime and Chris's voice over the intercom once more. " You okay in there buddy. It's not like you to be late to work or not even show up."

Spock looked at his comm on the bedside table and realized to his horror that it was 6 p.m. Monday evening. He had missed the whole work day and all of Sunday.

He pressed the intercom button on the nightstand surface and spoke into the mic, his voice gravelly and rough with misuse. " I will be with you in a moment. Please make yourself at home while I make myself presentable."

" Spock is that you? You feeling okay or are you as crappy as you sound?"

" If fecal matter were to have emotional awareness I would be inclined to agree with you on my state of being but as it is, I am not myself. I will signal the door for your entrance." he muttered, busy trying to clean himself and his sheets as best he could before throwing the his clothing and the bedding into the refresh hamper. He hurried to the bathroom to wash his hands and straighten his hair with no time to bathe himself properly, all the while pondering why Pike had chosen to come all the way out to his apartment instead of just calling him on the comm.

Spock exited his bedroom dressed in a white undershirt and sweatpants, eyeing Christopher as the captain looked over his Vid-pix hanging on the wall. He was watching the desert scene of wind blowing across the landscape of Vulcan's forge when he turned and regarded Spock warily.

" You alright, Commander?"

Spock sat down on the couch seated nearest to where Pike was standing. He ran his hands over his legs nervously, resting them on his knees as he stared at the floor and took a tentative breath. " As of late, I can not say that I am, sir."

" What exactly seems to be the problem." he asked sitting down opposite of the Vulcan in a matching overstuffed chair.

Spock swallowed and shook his head before looking at him. " I have been suffering from delusions. They have been mild enough in their fantasy for me to believe them real occurances only for me to find those in my company having a different recollection of what transpired. I did not know for certain until Saturday..." he trailed off as he thought of the young Cadet that had here two days ago caged beneath him. He licked his lips and furrowed his brow. " I have acted inappropriately for one in my station, sir."

Chris leaned back with a thoughtful look, his fingers steepled under his chin as he nodded. " Hmm, that's not what the cadet said this morning when she withdrew herself from her position as your TA."

Spock jerked his head in disbelief and gave Pike his full attention. " What did Cadet Uhura tell you?"

The captain took a deep breath and sighed. " Well, she told the board that she made advances towards you, kissed you and may have mildly intoxicated you with a tea she bought you as a gift."

" What?"

" Tell me Spock, do you know the uses of lemongrass?"

He shook his head no and Pike continued on with his explanation. " It seems that with lemongrass, not only can it be use as a herb for tea and cooking but it can also be use to lure animals such as honeybees. The oil found in the leaves works as a pheromone drawing the bee to the lemongrass' flowers over any other flower in the surrounding area. It appears to have the same effects of attraction when it comes to Vulcans, making the being in question more amorous as well as susceptible to hallucinations."

Chris leaned forward resting his forearm on his legs with a look of sincerity. " The cadet was told by the seller that it was a love tea but she was not informed to avoid giving it to anybody who wasn't human. She only found out after she contacted the shopkeep in concern over your welfare and reported to me shortly there after."

Spock felt both crushed and relieved. He hadn't gone mad, he had simply been under the influence of the herbal tea he had been drinking but Nyota...she had only meant to give Spock the tea and mug in an expression of affection, not to harm him.

" What will happen with Cadet Uhura?"

Pike looked down and twisted his mouth, running his fingerings though his hair. " She's no longer your teaching assistant that for sure and she's on academic probation for a while. Other than that the board decided to take it easy on her as it was her first ever demerit and she turned herself in as soon as kissed you and found out about the tea poisoning you."

" She was demerited?"

Chris nodded, standing up and stretching his legs. " Yes but I doubt that it will hold her back. She seems like she has a good head on her shoulders and didn't mean any harm. She just had it bad for teacher." he said with a wink.

Spock saw the captain to the door after he promised that he would stop in at the clinic before resuming his duties. " Alright then, I'll see you Tuesday then?"

Spock nodded and quietly ordered the door close behind him.

Nyota...she was so bright and promising and she tarnished herself for a chance to be with him, even when she knew the risks in a feeling of guilt over the tea. His skin felt tight as he thought of her walking into the disciplinary hearing and listening to the charges after her confession. What had she confessed to? Just a kiss? Was that the one Thursday or Saturday? Had Thursday even happened or was it Saturday that he was in error about?

Spock still didn't know what to believe other than what he could perceive to be true. The lab then had been a dream? And the first day after receiving her gift during lunch, that kiss...and everything afterwards had been a hallucination? It had all certainly felt real.

It was 7:09pm now and he still had her number. If he called her now, he could schedule a time to meet up with her. It was maddening not to know the light from the shadows, he had to know what was was nothing more vexing to a Vulcan to be left uninformed on an issue that could easily be remedied by asking the primary source.

He went to his comm and started to deal when he stopped midway. He should not do this. What would meeting up with her do other than to further her shame and rub at their situation. He doubted if she even wanted to see him let alone speak to him.

Spock stood beside the comm trying to logically seek a way to gain the knowledge he wanted without causing Nyota further duress but could not think of anything sound.

He could call but that was sure to reflect poorly for both of them if Starfleet were to pull her comm records. He could speak to her on campus, but again that would not do them any good in the brass's eyes.

He paced the hall before deciding it was best to go for a run and clear his mind. He was buzzing with energy from all the sleep and grew frustrated as he saw no logical means to solve his dilemma. No way in finding a neat and tidy resolution in this matter of the heart.

He liked Nyota, adored her but she was now officially off limits. Every greeting would be questioned, every look between them scrutinized and as a person that valued his privacy and took pride in his reputation the thought irked him to no end.

Pulling on a knit cap after zipping up his jacket, Spock headed out of the building and bolted onto the streets, only checking his speed when he started to draw attention. He wanted to be left alone and even with his ears tucked away in his cap the sharp arch of his eyebrows and the film of his inner eyelid drawn out from the wind whipping pass his face gave him away. He headed onto campus away from the noise of the city and began a lap around the pristine grounds.

" Professor." a light female voice shouted and he stopped to see the Orion Cadet Gaila running towards him. Nyota's roommate.

She slowed to a stop and nodded for them to continue moving.

" How can I be of assistance." he asked when he was sure they were alone.

" You can assist by meeting up with this one's roommate." she groused in horrible Vulcan. He grimaced as much as his face would allow at her horrible pronunciation of the word assist and replied in the same tongue as he took her change from standard as a way of not readily being overheard.

" How do you suppose this one should do that without drawing suspicion, Cadet?" he replied in turn.

She scanned the area once more and handed him a notePADD. " Memorize the number and call her at 3am. You guys can plan it then."

He glance at the number and nodded. " I will. Please let her know. Is the comm on a secure link?"

Gaila winked and smiled. " Yes, to both your request and your question. Live long and prosper Commander."

" Peace and long life, Cadet."

After the cadet disappeared behind the Engineering building, Spock decided to stop in for water and to check on the progress of his flora experiment housed in the Phlox Biology building. He stopped into the Instructor's lounge took a cup from the common share cabinet, sighing as the heat of the building gave him comfort after running out in the cold. He spotted his mug further down through the glass cabinet but it would most likely require a thorough cleaning before he would be able to safely drink from it again.

Tracing the large heart pattern with his eyes and his mind automatically turned to think on the day that Nyota had given him the ceramic piece. He remembered her anxiety vividly as his fingers accidentally brushed against while accepting the neatly wrapped gift.

It was not proper to ask her about the feeling as he did not mean to 'listen in' and touch her in the first place but he grew more curious about her nervousness as he unfolded the paper and opened the box to see the mug with two bags of tea, one loose leaf the other bagged, snugly nestled inside. It wasn't any inappropriate or untowards, in fact that he was very fond of the items she chose for their practicality.

" Thank you, Cadet Uhura." he said inspecting the mug and looking up to see her biting her lip apprehensively. " Is there something amiss? That is proper terran etiquette to thank the one giving a gift after it has been received?"

She shook her head with more force than necessary, her hair flying behind her and held up her hands up in defense, of what he wasn't sure of. " Oh no, nothing's wrong, sir. I just, wasn't sure if you liked...the gift." she said quickly. " So do you like it Commander?"

Spock held the tea and the mug in his hands, turning them this way and that. " The tea I can not give you a factual based assessment on, I am unfamiliar with this blend. As for the mug I find the colors aesthetically pleasing if not overly sentimental. These are simplified artistic rendering of hearts decorating its exterior?" he asked tapping against a few of the green ones.

She pulled at the bottom of her jacket and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. She was fidgeting. Hmm she rarely ever fidgeted when she spoke to him, he assumed she may have needed to relieve herself. " Yes, they're suppose to be Vulcan and human hearts. I commissioned a potter to make the mug and paint the design..."

Spock nodded, acknowledging her statement and sniffed at the tea. Hmm, very tart smelling. " As a symbol of my dual heritage I assume?"

She twisted her jacket and frowned. " No, it's symbolic but not of that. It's for...it's about...I..." she stammered, her brow tilted up as if she were in distress.

" Cadet, are you well? Am I detaining you from the restroom?"

Her face clears into a smile and she waved her hand dismissively. " No, I don't need to go to the bathroom, I'm fine. It's just...a present."

" It is not my birthday. I know it is a human custom to give friends gifts on the anniversary of their birth."

" It's not for that, it's for Valentine's day." her voice cracked with a shrill squeak.

He lifted his brow and looked her over. " Your voice sounds strained. Perhaps you could be so kind as to make us both some of this new tea? It would certainly help your throat."

She looked down with a nod and quietly took the box with her to the Instructor's lounge, saying nothing for the rest of the day until she said her goodbyes for the day.

Since that time she had been increasingly persistent in questioning him on all things Vulcan, her behavior appearing to be the normal curiosity found among his mother's people but her demeanor a bit odd, if not strange. She held eye contact for longer, started to arrive in his office before he did and go only after he took his leave. And then there was the day she questioned him about whether Vulcans could lie...

He shook his head to clear his mind and emptied his cup in one gulp. The rest of the recollection of that day was probably just an illusion caused by the tea and he would soon have Nyota's account to solidify his conclusion.

Spock refilled the cup and sipped it as left the lounge and walked down the hall towards the Flora I lab. He had finally solved his behavior away with the strange effects of Cymbopongon on his Vulcan physiology and no longer had the weight of talking to Pike and others over his shoulders. There was sure to be follow ups and paperwork along with a dreaded trip to the clinic but what is, is.

Spock entered the lab feeling more settled than he had all evening. That was until he got a glimpse of the room's interior.

Test tubes and beakers were broken into jagged shards and strewn across the floor. Multi-colored liquids stained the ground beneath them, so burning into the hard polish surface. What had happened? Why did they leave it this way?

He snapped his attention to the table that normally housed them, wiped clean of all but his terrarium which sat relatively undisturbed. Water condensed along the inside of the dome denoting that it had been recently watered. Who had done all this?

He set down his cup and gazed mesmerized at the mess below him until a patch of red caught his eye. Spock tilted his head and bent over to spy a swatch of ruby fabric snagged in the wood of the table top corner.

Red like that of a cadet's uniform.

A flash of his dream entered his mind and he felt his heart thunder in his side as his breath came in short, fluttering puffs, unnaturally loud in his ears.

He took the stiff patch of red cloth between his fingers and shoved it deep into his pocket before making an exit hastily out of the building, running once more into the night, filled with an unease that was becoming all too familiar.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you to the guests and the others who reviewed the last chapter. I was starting to think that you all hated this fic for how confusing it was. Probably one or two more chapters but we'll see how it flows.**

He sat on the edge of the bed staring at his comm, counting down the minutes until he was asked to call Nyota. As an extra precaution, he bought a disposable comm system while out on his run that he tinkered with making his own secure line.

The last thing he wanted now was to cause Nyota anymore trouble. She was already taking the fall for what he wasn't entirely sure other than the kiss and tea and that had been an honest mistake. At 2:59, he activated the comm and pinned in the number the Orion had given him and the face of a teary eyed Uhura came onto the screen. The sight of him she shut her eyes and rubbed them with the heel of her palms, a sad mewing noise slipping from her mouth.

" Cadet." he said. He found himself unable to say more as he took her in. The sight of her was both familiar and new, as she rubbed her face along the back of her hand and sniffed fitfully, trying hard to compose herself.

Spock searched her face and sighed. " Uhura,...please do not cry."

His plea was met with even more sobs as she cupped her face and wailed. He felt helpless watching her, unable to soothe her, not knowing the exact cause of her dolor. " Nyota, are you able to leave your dormitory and meet with me?"

She stilled, the only sound and movement was the shuddering breath she took to calm herself. " You...want to met with me?"

" Yes."

" You don't hate me?"

" I do not."

She sniffed and wiped her eyes along her sleeve, her face now puffy and shaded with an undertone of pink. " Why do you want to meet with me?"

" I must talk with you."

" But we're talking right now?"

He looked off to the closet where he housed his running shoes and jacket from earlier then back at the screen. " I find speaking with you over the comm to be an unsatisfactory means of communication at the moment."

Her eyes flitted back and forth and over to where he assumed her roommate was no doubt resting. " Where do you want to meet?"

" Wherever is easiest for you at this late hour." he answered getting up and fetching his shoes and outerwear. He returned to where the comm was placed to see the screen void of her and shuffling noises off in the background. When she came back a thick gold scarf adorned her head and wrapped about her shoulders, very sensible for the current weather conditions.

" Are you familiar with the Emulsification coffee shop about 6 blocks away from campus?"

He nodded pulling on his knit cap and knotting his scarf around his neck. He had stopped in a few times before on his way to work, as it was not out of the way. It would be a nice midway point between the two of them and he felt it to be a good choice on her part.

" Meet me at the corner and we'll go in together."

" I will be waiting."

Her face twisted into a grimace as her body fought to decide whether she was ecstatic or forlorn at the prospect of meeting with him. " Bye." she croaked still sniffling.

Spock was out of the door as soon as the screen flashed transmission end.

* * *

6 hours earlier

Spock sat on the edge of the examination table dressed in a thin fabric shift that let in far too much air and displaying too much of his back for his liking as he studied his feet dangling over the side.

" Uhh,...Scion Tagay Spock?" a doctor uttered, parting the curtain and looking down at his chartPADD with uncertainty. " I'm sorry, I know I butchered that. Can I still just call the Commander Spock?"

Spock looked up and came face to face Mark Piper, the chief medical officer during the USS Enterprise's last launch. He had seen him many times roaming the decks halls but as a person of privacy he went out of his way to avoid the doctor unless asked directed to the medical bay for a routine check up.

" That will be acceptable."

Mark nodded and sat on a nearby stood reviewing his results as he chewed the stylus. Spock found it disgusting but could not find a suitable reason to give voice to his repulsion. As a person interacting with various diseases and viruses it was clearly unsanitary to put a public writing tool in one's mouth. There were other reasons Vulcans didn't shake hands...

" Well Commander, seems you had a good deal of that tea. I'm prescribing lots of water, exercise and for you to restrict your social interaction until the Geraniol has worked it's way out of your system." he said tapping the on the chart.

" How long for the prescribe and the effects of the geraniol chemical last, Dr. Piper?"

The doctor put the stylus tip back to his mouth, tapping the end against his lips as he bobbed his head side to side in thought. If Spock didn't know any better he'd say that Piper had an acute Obsessive Compulsive tick but it may just have been that he was just very fond of rapping the pen tool. He didn't worry himself over it, most humans had some sort of self-comforting fidget of some sort like his Nyota's way of nibbling her lip or pulling at the hem of her jacket...wait...his Nyota?

" It varies from case to case but you're young, fit and healthy as a horse so I'll guess 1 to 2 weeks given the amount you ingested. Oh don't get upset, I'm sure it's not all that bad!" the doctor teased at Spock's blank expression.

Spock on the other hand touched his hand to his mouth to see if his concern had actually translated over to his face. In all his musings he had never referred to the young Cadet as his own and the thought of his slip left him more disturbed than his prognosis. Was it just an infatuation caused by the lemongrass or that the geraniol brought thoughts and feelings that had been there all along, repressed by meditation and logic, flooding slowly to the surface of his mind?

" I can still instruct my lessons?" he asked, eyeing his clothes folded neatly over to the side. He longed to be dressed once more and out of the hospital and tucked safely into his bedroom waiting to call Nyota.

Mark tapped his feet on the legs of the stool as he continued to fill out his chart. Definitely a tick but a musical one. " I don't see why not. You reported no violent behavior, no compulsion to harm yourself or others during your hallucinations. Just a bit of randy fantasizing." he said with a wiggle of his eyebrows and a click of his tongue.

Spock wanted to sigh but settled for standing up and walking over to clothing and drawing on his socks and underwear. The more clothing he had on, the more relief he felt and that went a lot further than a sigh in comforting him.

" I wouldn't worry about this too much, if that's your concern, Commander. You'll still have a few bouts of very vivid daydreaming but we don't have anything here whipped up to purge your body other than what you can do just as well by going to the bathroom and flushing your system out with lots of water and fiber. Humans overall are unaffected by the Cymbopogon family of grasses with the exception of one case of dermatitis." he commented with a light shrug, flipping the chartPADD closed. " That's it if you have any questions?"

" None."

" Okay then, nice seeing you again Commander, though I'm sorry about the circumstances. Go sign out at the front desk and we'll file this away for your debriefing review."

Spock nodded and proceeded to change as soon as the doctor disappeared behind the curtain. He had almost used both of the gifted bags of tea, each equating to about a 138 to 184 cups of tea or 46 or so pots of tea if he were to get 4 cups out of each brew. He worried how much of his perception had been imagined when it even came to Nyota's willingness and true feelings. Had he dreamed those up as well? If they engaged in intercourse, had she eagerly participated or had he coerced...

He halted his line of thought of line immediately, the anguish from the possibility to great to bear even theoretically. He realized in that moment the extent to which he care for her, just as he had seen how much Nyota adored him with her admission of wrongdoing for which she was not solely guilty of.

With the time that he had left Spock went back to the Bio building and collected his mug and threw away the remaining tea bags. It seemed like such a waste but he didn't want to chance coming into contact with it again.

He walked back home with the mug in hand looking over the ceramic when he saw the inscription of the potter's name on the bottom along with a series of smugs he had not noticed earlier. Getting back to his apartment he walk over to the nearest lamp and asked for a change to the terran spectrum of light and for the computer to increase the output to 75 watts. The bright white haze illuminated the surface enough for Spock to see that there had been something else composed long the ringed edge that had been glazed over. He flicked his inner eyelid shut and focused on the smugs as the stood out in inky black letters.

Be my Valentine, Love Nyota

Spock blinked and looked once more. Perhaps he read it incorrectly or his mind was still addled by the tea but when he read it again he knew the markings to be true. He went to the kitchen washing the mug and then cradled it in a dish towel.

She loved him? How could she be so sure? How could he? This information was coming to him at a difficult time and he knew not what to trust. Where he thought his logic had been sound, thoughts of Nyota and the human herself had dashed his ability to reason and act with a shred of sense across the rocks.

He wondered idly if he's father had felt this same entrapment with his mother, sans tea? The thought of discussing it with him aloud over the comm soured him to the idea. It wasn't as if he and Spock would sit down and express what was without a doubt the most illogical and emotional occurrence in his life.

And his mother would be of no help either, what with her questions and all. She'd ask what it was in reference to and who it was about and most awkwardly if he loved her too.

And as he told Nyota earlier, Vulcans do not lie.

* * *

Spock stood quietly at the corner looking in the direction from which Nyota was most likely to emerge. A few late night patrons, mostly police officers, night workers taking 'lunch' breaks and those who could not find sleep, walked past him giving the Vulcan a wide berth.

He imagined it was more than a little disconcerting seeing someone as tall and alien as he waiting for someone or something on the corner in the middle of the night. For another Vulcan he would think nothing of it as he knew how to defend himself and protect those around him. Unless they had business with him, which none of them did, they shouldn't have been so upset by his presence.

A slim figure stepped into the orange lamp light of the street wrapped in a headscarf and...a Vulcan robe? His robe. Nyota.

He must have moved because the figure looked up and hurried over to him after looking both way to cross the street.

As she approached Spock felt a pit forming within his stomach. She looked gorgeous and oddly exotic. With her ears covered and her hair obscuring her brow, she looked like a young Vulcanness in the prime of her youth. Well, she would have had she not been looking as if she were going to cry.

" Hi..." she looking down at the ground, not wanting to take the risk of looking him in the eye.

He glanced at her and then back to the coffee shop. " It is cold. Let us go in."

She nodded and followed slightly behind him, only stepping forward when he held open the door. They stood back a ways looking over the menu and settling on water for him and coffee for her. " Would you care for anything to eat?" he asked in his best effort to be polite.

She nodded coyly and twisted the sleeve of the robe between her palms. " Yes, they have really good scones here. I'll have a strawberry one with cream if they have it."

Spock blinked hard in dismay, the memory of the taste of such things in her mouth, whether true or an illusion, made his mouth dry as his mind spun. It couldn't have been real, he hadn't submitted his request for her removal yet and she had done so beforehand right? He tried bitterly to recall his actions if any on Sunday but his memory of that time stayed stubbornly blank.

When he got home he check his comm list and sent folder for his email account but for now he would not let the lapse of recollection bother him. " As you wish. Please, find us an area which you find comfortable."

She nodded and went off in search of a relatively secluded area. When he turned to the cashier he noticed the man staring after Nyota. A brief feeling of possessiveness shot through him until the man spoke. " You're so lucky. Vulcan girls are so beautiful."

" She is human." Spock said drily.

The barista blinked and looked at her with a wide eyed stare as Nyota sat on a couch in a far corner of the store with a low table in front of it. " Wow she fooled me, what with the robe and scarf. Hmm, she have any sisters?"

Spock glared and pocketed his hands inside his jacket. " Not that I am aware of."

The man sighed and cursed his luck before taking his order. Spock took their drinks and placed them on the table before returning to the counter and bringing back her food order. The drank in silence, Spock watching her as she took the cream and jam smeared pieces of bread between her lips and chewed. When her tongue peeked out and licked slowly against some arrant jam that had spilled onto her fingers he inhaled sharply and started to guzzle down his water. The whole liter of it. When he finished he tilted his head back and saw Nyota giving him a bewildered look. " I was told by Dr. Piper at the Starfleet medical clinic to increase my intake of water."

At this she looks hurt and bites hard at her lip. " I'm so sorry Commander, I had no idea I was poisoning you."

" I am getting better. There is no offense where none is taken."

She nods but doesn't appear to believe him as her brow remains at an uptilt with a pouty frown. " I am no longer your TA."

He exhales lightly and scans the crowd. No cadets decked in red or any others showing signs of being affiliated with Starfleet. " That is so but you are still my...Valentine, are you not?"

She looks up in horror and Spock thinks he's miscalculated again, that the writing painted over on the mug was imagined and the whole idea of her love was a ruse. Nyota licks her lips and nods emphatically. " Yes. Yes, I am. You...saw the writing on the mug? I thought I asked the potter to paint over it?"

" I was able to peer through the thin coat after gazing through my nictating membrane. Vulcans see in a different spectrum of light than humans." he said blinking both sets of eyelids for emphasis.

Nyota plays with the sleeve of her robe, looking down at her hands but not really watching so much as she's just looking away from him. " You don't mind my feelings? I felt like you did, like it was just a matter of time before you got rid of me because I liked you."

" Loved me." he corrected.

" What?"

" On the mug, you stated that you loved me. Did you write that as just an exaggeration like humans often do or do you in fact love me?"

Nyota blushed and sucked her bottom lip within her mouth as if she was trying to contain her answer. She hugged herself and closed her eyes as she tried to hide herself from his scrutiny.

Spock's breath left his mouth in deep sigh. He felt overwhelmed, this talk of emotion was all so hard, let alone doing so in view of the public. Every now and then he would catch someone watching them from above the top of their newspapers or gazing curiously as they sipped their beverages. Even with Starfleet so close by Vulcans were rare to see on Earth, and he supposed Nyota, dressed as she was, to appear like that of a Vulcan female.

He did not want them looking at her so. He wanted to hear her say how she felt, longed now to hear her the words latently written onto his mug. He wished he could just peer inside her and speak privately within the space of their joined minds. She opened her eyes and Spock felt his arms move as if control by some alien force. Indeed it was foreign. He did so with the emotion only a Vulcan could feel.

Spock timidly reached over to cup her face, halting for a moment when Nyota leaned forward and rested her small hands on top of his. Her nail polish was chipped along the edges but she just shiny as when she first applied it. He felt her breath racing across his wrists in warm puffs and he swallowed as he leaned closer examining her face.

He had been up close with humans before but never in such an intimate way. He had never held one of their faces as he did so now and aside from his mother when melding with her as a child, had never initiated touching another unless he deemed it necessary. It certainly felt necessary now.

Nyota was studying him too, with excitement and anxiety in her touch and expression. He brushed the pads of his thumbs softly across the edge of her cheekbones, feeling the muscles beneath them lift and bunch as she smiled at him shyly.

" Are you real or just another beautiful figment?" he whispered, scared that his voice would break the illusion if spoke too loudly.

She smiled wider now and eyes narrowed in amusement as she laughed quietly. " I am real, Spock."

" Prove it." he pleaded. He could no longer bear not knowing the truth. He wanted to tell her things, important things, issues that confused his mind and broke his logic. And Nyota, he wanted to hear her, know her, understand what it was that she currently felt for him, not what he wanted her to feel but the truth.

Especially now after confirming the existence of the writing on the mug. " Please, let me know that you are real." he begged, his voice rough and heavy with his distress.

She closed her eyes and squeezed his hands, removing his thumbs from her cheeks and place his fingers along her temples. Her hair tangled itself around his hands as if trying to hold him in place and he felt the warm, liquid movement of her mind tingling below the surface of her skull. It was distinct, tempting and very much real.

Spock felt an urge that he had never experienced before, a yearning that was solely Vulcan in nature. His body coursed with a savage hunger to hear the echo of his emotions reflected off the cliffs of her mind. He wanted her, all of her.

Nyota felt the tug of his mind through his fingers as they trailed across her skin, zealously pulling at her consciousness like a drain imbibing water down its mouth but the feeling stopped as soon after it started. She looked him in the eye to see him panting and his eyes shut tightly as if in deep concentration.

" Spock?" she said, lightly stroking her hands down his forearm. He trembled and growled softly in his throat, stilling her touch. " Are you angry?"

He took a deep breath and then another before opening his eyes again. " No. Not at all. I...I want to meld with you but I dare not do so without your permission." he paused breathing deeply again and looking down with his fingers shaking lightly over her face.

" I...I wish to exist in the reality in which you feel the way that I do because I...I desire you so very much. If it is only in my dreams that you want me then I do not wish to wake from them. I would drink lemongrass tea for the rest of my days, if only to feel your adoration of me. And if it is in reality then I do not wish to sleep." he licked his lips nervously, never once giving so much voice to how he felt. It was both shame inducing and liberating. He noticed half way through his admission he fell into speaking Vulcan.

Nyota's face and emotions performed a dance in sync, turning to grin in elation, bowing her lids in longing, skipping with glee with a crinkle in the corners of her eyes as she listened to his words. How stunning she was, how very, very beautiful to his eyes.

Her head tilted as she felt the curious pull of his touch once more and heard him grunt as he willed himself to stop. " You can meld with me." she said quietly. " It won't hurt will it?"

He shook his head and held her face. " No, I will not hurt you. Only the connection itself will feel...disorienting."

She nodded in the fold of his hands and he eagerly aligned his fingers and murmured softly as he began the meld. He was slow, his mother the only other human he had either done so with and he felt himself sinking gradually into the depths of her mind, dissolving until he was consumed with her. The feeling of it was staggering.

Each of them gasped, Nyota's hand shooting out to his steady herself on Spock's shoulders and Spock falling forward and rubbing his face against her.

" Nyota..." he groaned, his chest shaking with a reverberating purr as he tried to pull her closer. Everything about her he wanted, he needed, he craved. He pushed her back onto the couch and kissed her madly as she kissed him back hungrily.

" Hey! This ain't the time or the place for that!" a voice shouted. Spock broke the meld and looked around blearily as Nyota moaned from the loss of connection and spotted the barista glaring at him from the counter.

" If you're hot and heavy for each other you can take it to the house. You don't have to sit there and rub it in my face and freak out the customers!"

Spock looked around and flushed furiously as he saw everyone's eyes focused in on the pair of them. He adjusted Nyota's scarf to hide more of her face and helped her up from the couch. " I am sorry. I did not know I would lose control. I will escort you home."

She nodded and practically ran out of the store. They remained quiet the whole walk over and didn't speak until Spock opened the door for her to enter her dorm.

" I still need to speak with you."

She turned and tilted her head. " About what?"

" About all that has transpired between us."

" Tonight? Well it was from the meld, wasn't it?"

He cleared his throat and looked around nervously. " True but I was referencing our time since this past Thursday through Sunday. I want you to tell me everything that has happened."

Her mouth formed a small o and she leaned forward on her tiptoes and whispered into his ear. His eyes grew wide before he shut them tightly with a shiver. When she finished, she slipped inside and closed the door.

Spock stood there frozen near the door, unable to move and his mind buzzing with his newfound knowledge. He did not leave until the sun peeked over the horizon and he had to race home to change.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Err, sorry for the wait? Know that I have two chapters also written to follow this one but for whatever reasoned I kinda worked backwards so I still need to finish the chapter leading into the other latter one. Thanks for all the favs/reviews and hello to all the new followers. Hopefully this doesn't let you down. I'll already give you the heads up that this chapter is clean, no smut or anything like that but the next one will be hence all the time I'm having to take to write it. That and I'm still working on Reasons. Sokona and Valyria are about to update as well but like the way better authors that they are they're taking their time. Anywho enough yapping.**

* * *

Spock walked into the classroom with his hands clasped behind his back, looking over his students until he found the perpetrator he was looking for. " Cadet Michaels."

The muscle bound senior turned slowly, his face mixed with guilt and trepidation. " Yes, sir."

Spock stopped in front of him, looking down as he towered over him. " It has come to my attention that you and another student, named Stephenson have wrecked a number of our pieces of science equipment as you harassed Cadet Uhura and subsequently got into a fight with two other Cadets, name Kirk and McCoy when they came to her defense, am I correct?"

Michaels' eyes shifted warily as he cowered under the Vulcan's glare. " Yes, sir."

Spock pulled out the piece of fabric he had retrieved from the scene and held it up as he nodded towards the Cadet's jacket. " See to it that you mend that hole, Cadet, Starfleet does not condone shabbiness. You will find yourself quite busy for the last remaining months cleaning each bio lab for the rest of the semester starting today. You are also assigned to cleaning up the mess you made with Stephenson and paying back the academy for all the damaged equipment you both dealt during your fight. The board and I agreed that it is not fair or just to have the janitorial staff clean up the wreckage. The only matter you should feel truly fortunate in is that none of the other Cadets involved chose to press charges against you, though I find the action to be overly lenient due to possible emotional guilt at the chance of your expulsion."

The senior's jaw dropped as listened and immediately fell into protesting the fairness of the punishment. " But Kirk and McCoy made most of that mess! Why aren't they cleaning it up or in trouble too?!"

Spock narrowed his eyes and a number of the surrounding students unconsciously backed away. " As it is, they would not have damaged anything had you not seen fit to make inappropriate advances towards Cadet Uhura as she carried out her extracurricular activities."

Michaels threw back his head and scoffed, too blind to see he was pushing his luck and too angry to know when and where to stop. " Oh yeah I forgot that she was teacher's pet...and that she does quite a few extracurricular activities for you."

" Cadet, you are out of line." Spock warned. The senior was already a test to his control to repress the emotional need to protect Nyota but his this male's insinuation that she was involved with him was not one he could readily denounce. It was illogical to deny the fact that they were together beyond a scholarly nature.

Michaels glared back and squared his shoulders. " You know she use to go out with me but all she ever talks about now is Spock this and the commander that. Tell me, does still do that thing with her tongue? You know where she has your d...Oogh!"

Spock's fist slammed into Michaels sternum and he snatched him up by the collar before he collapsed, holding him centimeters from his snarling face as he gasped like a fish out of water. "Do NOT talk about Cadet Uhura that way." he said practically growling as he threw him to the floor and watched him skid across until he ultimately slammed into the wall with a resounding boom.

" Commander?" a voice questioned firmly behind him and Spock blinked to find Cadet Michael still standing defiantly and not plastered into the drywall. He sighed softly wishing that the latter were true and not just another hallucination. The student peered around him curiously to see who had spoken, instantly snapping to attention when he saw.

" Captain!" Michaels barked respectfully with the peachy color draining away from his face.

Spock and the other cadets began to follow suit but the Captain impatiently waved them away. " At ease, everyone." he sighed, stepping around in between Spock and Michaels. " Everyone but you, Michaels. Report to Admiral Komack, Cadet. He'd like more than a word with you."

The burly cadet nodded and quickly gathered his belongings and left. Pike turned to watch him leave his eyes narrowed in irritation before fixing his gaze onto Spock. " Commander, did you report to the clinic for a physical as ordered?"

Spock nodded, his eyes nervously flitting from student to student, wondering if they had any idea what would have prompted his the request. It was common knowledge that Vulcans were a relatively resilient people, only falling ill once ever few standard years or so. " Yes, Captain. Dr. Piper was the attending physician on call and recorded any information on my health that you may need."

Chris tilted his chin up and exhaled heavily. " I see. And I take it Mark gave you the go ahead to return to your classes symptom free?"

Spock looked down and adjusted the hold on his hands behind his back. " He assured me that I would be able to work with only the most minimal difficulties given the prognosis."

As if noticing the Spock's class for the first time, Pike turned around to the student milling around behind him and put on his best authoritative voice. " Take your seats. Lieutenant Commander Nano will be your substitute for the next..." Pike paused and gave Spock a pointed look to supply him with a date.

The Vulcan cleared his throat and rearranged his hands once more. " Two weeks."

" Right." Pike agreed with a tight smile. " And with that cadets, I leave you to Lt. Comm. Nano's care."

The purple alien in question ambled in through the doorway, his metallic like skin glinting in the fluorescent lighting of the room. " Hmm, I bid you good morning." he crooned. He bobbed his bulky, triangular head towards the seated students and craned his neck in an awkward 180 degree turn to focused his attention onto Spock. " Hello again Commander Spock. Feeling a little green around the gills, hmm? You'll owe me for having to babysit your 'rugrats' for the next two weeks. What shall I discuss with them in the meantime?"

" Dark matter and string theory." Spock answered automatically. Nano was a good enough communications officer for Pike, working deftly with his acute sense of aural and optical stimuli but Spock had never been too fond of his passes for human social skills.

Nano scoffs with a somewhat smug look on his face. " Just those two? Hmph, child's play. I learned them in our secondary schooling cycle back on my home planet. I'll have to try my best to not be bored to death."

Spock looked at him thoughtfully before recognizing his slight towards his students, one that he did not take kindly too as it was an insult to their intelligence and his own. His classes might not be the easiest to pass but all of his students who did so were at the top of their classes elsewhere. He taught the best because the were driven to learn more and be more.

He stepped forward and handed the new substitute a notePADD containing his lesson plan for the course with a sincere look of Vulcan stoicism on his face. " We learn these things in primary school on Vulcan, Lieutenant Commander so I suppose I would consider it child's play as you put it. Try to not get confused along the way as you teach my students but feel free to call on one of them and I am sure that they can help guide you along. Live long and prosper." he said with a dismissive tilt of his head and followed Pike out of the door.

Chris chuckled at him with an exasperated look on his face. " Has anyone told you that you have a smart mouth, Spock?"

Spock delicately raised one brow and matched his pace to that of his superior. " No. I can not recall ever being told that orifice has any particular note of intellect. Though I have been berated many times by training officers for having my 'ass' display such wisen qualities."

" I'm sure they did." Pike snorted. He surveyed the hallway and put on a more serious mood. "Look, while I appreciate and admire your drive to see things through to the end, this course for example, I need you to know that it would be a hell of alot better for me if you 'laid low' and did some paperwork I've been neglecting for such an occasion. You know how I hate paperwork, don't you?"

Spock stopped at the end of the hallway near the turbolift and looked to the side as if he were trying to remember, a quirk he picked from Nyota. " Yes, I do remember a 4 weeks worth of work you need to have submitted in 3 days time that I was ask to ' rescue' you from. Sir, may I ask if you are assigning me 'busy work'?"

Chris smiled and rolled his head along his shoulders in an exaggerated shrug. Spock noticed he did that with only woman and himself, and understood it as a friendly gesture in lieu of touching the other person. It was expressions like this that make Spock feel comfortable around the Captain more than anyone else. Well everyone with the exception of Ms. Uhura... they liked to do quite a bit of touching...

" I don't know Spock am I? You did rescue me, Spock. Let me do the same for you now as you help chip off a bit of my reports that need filing. I can't trust that anyone else would be as thorough or meticulous as you." he said nonchalantly.

" Rescue me, sir?"

Chris pursed his lips and gave him an even look while gesturing down the hallway with his arm. " Did you even hear yourself with Cadet Michaels?"

Spock recalled the events he knew to be true, leaving out his envisioned throttling of the young man. " I told the cadet that he was out of line."

" Yeah, in Vulcan you did and right before you growled at him."

Spock blinked, his brows furrowing in concentration. " Vulcans do not growl."

Chris gave a quick shrug and handed Spock a data cube containing the work he needed reported for the next launch of the newest Enterprise. " Sure they don't, just like they don't lie. You know Spock, there are other ways of lying."

Spock pocketed the cube and tilted his head in quiry. " Such as."

Chris jabbed the call button for the lift and checked his chronometer before boarding the crowded cab. He looked up at Spock with a sympathetic smile. " Such as believing a fallacy to be the truth so much that you would quote it as a fact. Take a break and recover, Commander. You might find that your logic needs an overhaul."

Spock again felt a sharp twinge of anxiety as Pike was enclosed behind the lift's doors and whisked away to the ground floor. Not having the security of his class schedule to guide his day Spock felt even more restless than he had been.

It was only 9:28 a.m. standard time and he wasn't ready to go home yet and launch into the work that the Captain had assigned him. That would require a good deal of organization, and to do file each document in a satisfactory manner he would need to meditate and to meditate he would need to feel some measure of peace which he did not have possession of in the least.

Spock peered out of the window longingly towards the Vera Rubin Women's dormitory, staring at the second floor where he knew Nyota to be lodged. It was illogical of him to wish that she would appear in a window or a main entrance but he did it nonetheless.

To his amazement (and growing disquiet) the window third from the left ruffled and parted to show a very disheveled, very lovely Nyota Uhura. She was dressed in a black active duty undershirt about two sizes too large for her frame, the material swamping the shape of her figure.

She pulled at her sleep cap and unpinned her hair wrapped about her head. Each lock tumbled down, pooling around her shoulders before spilling down her back. Nyota tucked the errant strands in front back behind her ears as looked from face to face at the people traveling along the quad's walkways. She was looking for someone.

Spock stepped towards the window as he watched her turn her head towards the interior of the room, answering her roommate no doubt before returning her attention back to the crowd outside. Both were surprised when she looked up in his direction and locked eyes with him.

They stared at each other for moment, and then another before she offered him a small smile coupled with the Vulcan salute. He pressed his hand up against the glass pane in the familiar expression and waited for her to make another move.

She folded her hand into the shape of a handheld comm and mined dialing on it followed by mouthing the Vulcan words for call me. Spock's heart leaped as he nodded and mouthed the words later in reply. He now knew what he wanted to do with the rest of his day and it required a change of attire.

* * *

Spock arrived at the market square lugging a bag over his shoulder and armed with a PADD in hand. He looked down and swiped to the next page of Valentine's Day for Alien Dummies.

It was quite informative so he had to assume the title lent itself more towards those alpha quadrant humanoids that had humor as a regular part of their culture and not so much for those lacking in intelligence. When the librarian suggested the Spock immediately told her that he had no mental handicaps. She sighed with a smile and replied that it was just the name but it was rated the best in its simplicity and overview, even having footnotes for certain species to help in their understand when a culture clash would soon come to pass.

Deltans were advised not to expect sex within the first 10 minutes of meeting while Betazoids were asked not to address the feelings and emotional states of their date's throughout the evening. Sound advice Spock thought on both fronts.

His first stopped was the Hairy Potter's shoppe where he had read that humans, particularly females delighted in match sets of items, titled his and hers. He wanted to see if the artist could indeed produce another mug like the one Nyota had commissioned.

Stepping in, Spock was surrounded by kiln heat and thick clay dust. It was very welcoming, reminding him a bit of his homeland despite the wet smell of fresh clay sitting around in huge vats. A bruin looking man looked up from his work wheel and signaled that he would be with him in one second.

This was never the case with humans but Spock gathered that he'd be with him momentarily. He stood wiping his wet hands on his apron, smearing the gritty slip into his furry forearms turning then an interesting shade of gray. He smiled widely at Spock from underneath the flaming cloud of his bushy red beard opened his arms in greetings.

" Welcome, good sir! My name's Dov, how can I help you today?" he grinned. The air of his happiness was bubbly and contagious as he continued to smile like the Vulcan was the best thing he had ever seen. Spock began to see how Nyota would be attracted to such a store with the owner being so gregarious.

" I would like to submit a commission." he stated, calmly adjusting the bag and pulling out the large mug that Nyota had given him. The owner's eyes lit and he captured the piece between his hands.

" I remember this one. What a sweet baby she was, this mug! So easy to glaze and the paint popped the colors perfectly!" he sung stroking the mug as if it were in fact a newborn babe.

" The request I would like to make is for a complimentary mug for the young lady that ordered the one you hold in your hands."

The potter stopped petting the mug and looked up knowingly, he bushy brows bobbing up and down with a teasing note. " Ah, yes, Ms. Uhura. A fine connoisseur of the arts, while at least my artwork. So you're the mensch that she was making this mug for, eh? Lucky devil you! Alright then, we better make this perfect! What did you have envisioned?"

Dov closed his eyes and held his fingers to his face with a deep hum. Spock tilted his head but when potter didn't stop he moved forward with his description.

" If you up to the task and have the caliber in which to execute it, I wish for you to depict a desert scene like that of Vulcan with an oasis painting inside the cavity of the mug. Along the handle transcribe this calligraphy if you will." Spock said, pulling out a small slip of paper with his neat, cyndicular Vulcan calligraphy.

The potter's eyes opened and he greedily snatched the paper away, still humming and pacing the floor as he studied the script. " What does it say?"

Spock looked away uncomfortably, the muscle behind his jaw ticking. " I cherish thee."

Dov nodded slowly with a warm smile. " Ah I think I know what you mean. For people of the desert, there is nothing more precious than water."

Spock gave a quick nod, happy to be relieved of having to define the sentimentality of the depiction. " Indeed."

" Well then, let me get to work! Leave your information on the PADD over on the desk near the door so I can comm you when it's done. Half down now and half at pick up. I will make something that will make her fall in love with you and there's only one thing I need to do."

" What would that be?" Spock questioned from where he was writing on the PADD and pressing his thumb print for payment.

" You have to make sure to keep it. I can tell, that little one is fiery but she needs tenderness as well. Know when to hold her and when to back her." the potter winked.

" I will do my best in making her emotional as well as physically secure." Spock promised dryly and exited out to the bustling market street once more. He skimmed through the Library e-book once more for the supplies that he would need if he wished to charm Nyota in her own way.

According to the book log, humans tended to enjoy the privacy of dinner at home especially when the host cooks the meal. At the top of the screen was a picture of a darkened dining room lit only by candle light with a tabled dress with a cloth and appetizing dishes. Perhaps Nyota would care for his attempt at making Kenyan food from scratch?

He strolled along purposefully, stopping at any artisan or vendor peddling wares that he needed to recreate the scene in the book. He had to buy a number of spices he knew to be quite common in most human homes but never typically found in Vulcan cuisine. Black pepper for one, he found to be quite misleading, it wasn't spicy at all.

His knapsack was full by the time he reached the other end of the square, hardly burdensome but he was a bit surprised that he had gotten so...carried away. Walking back to the other end so he could catch the bus Spock spied a chocolate stand with an assortment of decorative boxes.

He came closer scenting the air and felt his eyes water.

" I know, beautiful looking aren't they?" the chocolatier chimed as she poured the molten coco mixture into a tray shaped like a orange. " A delicious little pieces of art. And like all art, they are meant to be enjoyed by all the senses and temporary in their existence. Would you care for one?"

She hand Spock a tinfoil covered star shaped chocolate and beamed at him. " That one's a popular one. White chocolate covering dark chocolate that as it melts in your mouth makes milk chocolate!"

He turned the chocolate over in his hand and looked over to the rest of her selection. " I would to purchase an assortment of your confections." he stated, still looking over at the little star pieces and thinking of Nyota. She would most likely enjoys these and if she should happen to want to share her gift, well...Spock would be hard pressed to refuse her offer.

The shopkeep clapped her hands and busied herself with asking questions about the recipient's likes and dislikes and soon filled two golden plastic trays filled with ornate looking truffles, cups and wedges of chocolates.

Spock selected a green box with a red heart printed ribbon to secure the top and continued onto the bus stop after he made his purchase. An idea struck him as quick as lighting and he soon found himself searching for couriers cruising down the avenue weaving in and out of traffic by their agile hoverbikes. As soon as he spotted one he flagged him down and the deliveryman swiftly glided over.

" Can I help you?" he asked, his voice muffled by the helmet encasing his head.

Spock held up the bag that the box of chocolates were sitting in and pushed it towards the driver. " Could you deliver these to Cadet Nyota Uhura located at the Starfleet Academy campus?"

" Yeah sure but it kinda outta my way. Can you just call our company and have them schedule a pickup and delivery for you?"

Spock blinked and lifted his chin, pulling out his wallet and handing him a cred card with a hefty amount embedded onto its chip. " It is important that this delivery be as anonymous as possible. I will pay handsomely for your discretion. I take it that this will be enough to cover the delivery as well as secure my privacy."

Spock could see the courier's widen through the tint of his visor and consider the offer more readily at the sight of the card amount. " Umm, yeah, sure. Uhh, it's not anything illegal though right?"

" If you could call chocolates illegal." Spock quipped.

The driver peeped inside the bag to assure himself before tucking the bag away in the cab compartment of his bike. He took the card and slipped it into a pocket along his biking jacket. " Do you need me to tell her who it's from?"

" She will know all that she needs to. That it is from a very apprehensive yet avid admirer." Spock said, watching the bus approaching his stop from a 4 blocks back.

" How are you going to know that they got delivered? I can't call you?"

Spock lifted his brow and felt a thrill of mischievous delight trickle through him as he serenely walked over to where the hoverbus had pulled up to the curb. " I will know by this evening."

* * *

Nyota smiled at him brightly on the comm screen as she held up a shiny green box adorned with white and red ribbon. " Did Christmas come early for me this year?" she teased, rattling the box.

Spock's mouth twitched at her apparent giddiness at receiving his gift. " No. Valentine's day came late."

She sniffed at the box and made a sound that made him squirm in his seat. " MMmmm, smells good whatever it is."

" You may open it."

She need no further prompting and tugged the stiff ribbon loose and popped open the box with a long inhale. " Oh my goodness! What pretty chocolates! Oh, thank you Spock!"

He dipped his head in gratitude though he was preening from her words on the inside. He watched her lift the tray and ohh and ahh over the different pieces. A sudden, irrational desire to see the sweets disappear between her lips seized him and he spoke before he could stop him.

" Eat one."

She innocently looked and favored him with a smile before selecting a piece and peeling back the foil. She looked up at the screen and bit into the chocolate with a loud snap. She chewed what was in her mouth before popping in the rest, licking at her thumb and forefinger to clean off the melted smudges. All the while Spock stared with rapt fascination, wishing he were there to orally clear her hand of the chocolate.

" Another."

Nyota obliged and closed her eyes after she bit into the next one. " Mmm raspberry filling. My favorite..." she mewed around the chocolate swirling in her mouth.

Spock inhaled sharply as she licked her lips and smiled, eyes still shut to him and oblivious to his mounting lust. " I am pleased that you are so thoroughly enjoying this gift."

Her eyes flickered open and she looked at his puzzled. " This gift."

" I possess others but you must come to me to receive them."

Nyota lowered her face and grinned, excitement making her eyes glitter in the transmission of her image. " Oh really? Like what?"

" You will learn in three days time." he answered vaguely, knowing it would make her more insistent that he tell her more.

She did not disappoint him as she immediately pouted her lips and shook her comm. " C'mon any hints?"

" No. Have patience, Nyota. You will arrive to my quarters at 7 p.m.. Until then live long and prosper."

****She growled and huffed and was just about to launch into what looked like it would have been a very scathing reply when he cut the transmission with the slightest hint of a smirk.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Hi. Just combing over the other chapter over before posting that one as well. Hi to new followers and readers alike. Read and review. Okay bye. P.S. I watched STID and it was AWESOME :p

In last thirty minutes Spock had meditated, play his lute and check his messages a repeated six times in an attempt to settle his nerves and center his mind. He only succeeded in sitting still for 10 minutes while his mind raced from one worst case date scenario to the next, breaking one of the ka'athyra's strings and finding - just like on the other five occasions - that he had no new messages.

He was filled with restless energy as he waited for Nyota's arrival, not that he would have ever admitted to being nervous about the prospect of having her back over to his home.

Spock just wanted to see to it that every detail was perfect and his attire was now the new focus of his compulsive fixation. He had selected five possible outfits for the occasion, each with its own unique quality to merit his donning the garb this evening but he yet to eliminate even one to choose from after changing an exorbitant amount of times - 22 in fact - but he tried his best not to count as he shed a light blue button shirt and neatly returned the garment the lay alongside the charcoal gray slacks he had chosen to wear with it.

Why did humans not have dating uniforms? That would be so much more practical than having to stand here ruminating over my wardrobe for 13 minutes Spock thought bitterly.

Spock padded quietly across his bedroom carpet and stopped in front of two outfits. He was in the middle of debating on whether Nyota would favor the rust or bronze color Vulcan robe when he heard the door chime ring.

Startled, Spock checked his internal clock and silently cursed to himself as he knew it to be at 7 p.m. exactly with Nyota outside his door and he only had a undershirt on to show for his clothing efforts. The door chimed again and he walked over to his nightstand and buzzed her in. " I will be with you shortly. Please make yourself comfortable." he said in a rush as he pulled on a pair of dark jeans.

The setting was suppose to have an air of informality to create a sense of comfort with the present company and he was now out of time to get ready so he decided to forgo a dress shirt. He hoped she wouldn't take offence but knowing Nyota she would forgive him or not take offense in the first place.

He put away the rest of the clothing and emerged from the bedroom to see Nyota looming over the table setting, her fingers tracing the patterns laced into the large tapered candle closest to her set inside a Vulcan candelabra. She turned to him and smiled with a somewhat mischievous look.

" Looks like someone putting on the ritz here and for little old me."

Nyota looked stunning. She was wrapped in an emerald, sleeveless dress that was cinched at the waist by a darker green corset and strappy, glittery heels adorned her feet. Her hair in the front was draped across her temples, tumbling down around her collarbone while the rest was swept back into a style he heard his mother once call a " French roll". He folded his hands behind him lest he give in to the urge to reach out and molest her.

For someone of a different cultural descent, Nyota seemed to have a great affinity for the French. Perhaps she would educate him on the finer points of the French kissing and pick up where they last left off while seated in...

" Like what you see?" she interrupted his musing with her sudden question. He noted that he had left his eyes lingering on her as he was thinking about kissing her but she looked so lovely he did not wish to stop even though the book had instructed him that it would make his human date feel self-conscious.

When he didn't answer and continued to gaze at her Nyota blushed and fidgeted with the silver bangles at her wrist. " I feel like a gift wrapped steak that wandered into a lion's den."

" Perhaps you are and did..." he said as teasingly as he could muster, watching as Nyota giggled nervously and rub her palms over the front of her dress. It was good to know he wasn't the only one with raw nerves but his mind sought out to alleviate the tension in the most straightforward way possible.

" May I get you something to drink?" Spock asked wanting to busy his hands. The temptation to touch her was mounting and he silently cursed his logic that a private dining venue would be best for him to get to know her. His mind was eager but body was starting to fight for more knowledge as well.

Spock looked at how her hair veiled the sides of her face, hiding most of her psi points away from view like natural lingerie. How easy it would be to just brush it away and take her mind, ripe with its vivid and colorful thoughts, in through his hand?

And her neck...with all the rest of her locks pinned up high along the back of her head it left the nape of it exposed to his mouth or better yet his teeth. Just look at the way the light reflected off of her dress casting a warm green glow across her skin. The color of her dress, richness of the green had an irresistible pull to his base. Perhaps because it reminded him of blood, Vulcan blood. He wondered idly as his eyes slinked down her legs if human males were as attracted to the color of red on their females.

His eyes traveled slowly back up to her face to find Nyota looking at him cautiously, almost knowingly, like every possibility of he thought of had been written in his smoldering regard.

He clenched his jaw with a twitch and broke his gaze. " The table needs a pitcher of water."

Spock hurried off to the kitchen to retrieve the pitcher for water and took a breath as he looked back through the doorway back to the dining room. Could she read his thoughts, despite his lack of facial expression and body language? Did Nyota have any idea how much he craved her?

The lemongrass had addled his mind but only what had already been there. It didn't create his adore of her, only made it more apparent. With his feelings brought to the forefront and having such a welcome reception from the creator of such, Spock felt hard pressed to subdue them once more.

Why should suppress his like of her company when she desired it also? Why ignore the fact that they had both enjoyed their meld? And why fight the chance to have her, when he knew she had sought him out...hadn't she? She wanted him and he was very well aware that he wanted her, but what was best, here & now or sometime later after they knew each other a bit better?

He filled the pitcher with ice as he thought the issue over, watching the cubes in simple wonder as only a child of the desert would as the ice cracked and tinkling at the introduction of the tap water pouring over it.

Spock flexed his shoulders and straightened his back when he saw Nyota join him in the kitchen. She came alongside where he stood at the sink, the smell of jasmine and some heavier scent accompanying her as she reached out and took a hold of the pitcher once it was filled. Her eyes slid over him in a manner gratifyingly similar to his earlier perusal of her, meeting his gaze shyly for only a moment before backing out and going back out to the table.

Spock swallowed and flexed his hands listlessly, a feeling of anxiety and excitement crawling through him in as he got another sense of foreboding for tonight's dinner. He wasn't sure if it was going to end cordially with him eating the dishes he covered under their various tops and lids or devouring Nyota after casting aside the cover that modestly hide her...

" Would you care for wine?" he asked neutrally.

" Yes, red if you have it." she answered, filling their water glasses and setting down the pitcher.

He opened the bottle of Shiraz he purchased at the market, filled a goblet and walked her glass out to her. " Indeed I do."

When she saw Spock approach her she set the lid back down over the fried eggplant slices and gracefully accepted the cup with careful hands. " Thank you, Spock" she said cheerfully, amused at being able to say his name without Commander preceding it.

Spock watched her mouth as she took a quick sip and nodded with approval at the taste. " Spicy and full bodied." she commented before taking a heartier swig of the drink.

He leaned forward with his eyes shut and inhaled around the side of her face. Startled, Nyota backed up a bit and gave off another nervous laugh. " What does it smell like?"

His opened his eyes and let his brow lift in a show of his amusement. " I suppose the wine smells like fermented grapes but I was smelling you." he said with a quick flare of his nostrils. " Your fragrance...you have changed it..."

Nyota clutched her goblet between both hands and nodded unevenly, her head tilting over to the side as she did so. " Yeah, my mother sent me perfume for my birthday last year and I thought I'd try it out tonigh...Spock!" she scolded as he came closer and sniffed her again this time along her neck followed by a quick, raspy lick along one of its tendons.

She took a step back clicking across the tile which Spock followed with one of his own and repeated the movement to find him keeping step with her until she bumped into the wall behind her. " Spock, quit stalking me!" she said half teasing, half serious.

He reached out, curling her hair along his fingers and pulled it to his nose with a slightly bemused expression. " If you would remain still as I admired you I would not have to 'stalk' you as you put it. And I am hardly stalking you, Nyota, you see me right in front of you, none of me is hidden from view. If I were to hunting you, Nyota, you would know."

He let go of her hair and started to reach for her ear, wanting to trace the smooth curve of her ear when she did a side step and quickly took a seat at the table. " Fine you're not stalking me. Let's eat then before this wine goes to my head."

Nyota neatly folded a napkin into her lap as Spock gave off what he hoped did not sound like a sigh and complied sitting across from her.

" The first course is Dengu soup. I hope I have prepared it to your liking. Not all human cares for peppers in their cooking but I was pleased to find so many of the Kenyan dishes were vegetarian and had a great deal of spice to them."

Nyota smiled as he laddled her a bowl and carefully handed it to her. At her first spoonful she made an appreciative noise and Spock released a breath he had not realized he was holding. " It's wonderful. I absolutely love how much chile pepper and spinach you put in here! People typically go a little heavy on the mung beans and skimp on the peppers but you made everything blend very well."

" It was not without my own trial and error. This is my fifth attempt at this dish and I'm pleased to say the most satisfactory in its completion. I ate the others with not as much...enthusiasm."

She laughed at his failing and told him it was all apart of learning to become a good chef. He nodded at her logic on the matter and agreed that one must practice in order to perfect.

He served her the fried eggplant next along with Kuku Paka, coconut curried sauce with slices of tofu in place of the traditional chicken along with a couple of circles of chapati flatbread. He refilled her wine goblet and gestured for her to proceed eating.

She ate the main course just as contentedly as she had with the first and as the spoke of Starfleet and their passion for space Spock was reminded not for the first time how much he enjoyed her company. His concern over his clothing and cooking melted as she continued to favor him with smiles and clever remarks at his struggle for mutual topics of interest in between bites.

A quick introspective thought occurred to him as he sipped his glass of water, listening to Nyota talk and logging what she said and how so he could respond appropriately once his epiphany had been met.

It wasn't necessary his clothing or the dishes he had made that had him worried about her disappointment but a fear of being rejected by her for who he was.

He was quite different from both his parents' people but he found the more he revealed himself to Nyota the more she met the newly exposed parts of Spock's being with eager acceptance, almost hungrily so.

She knew him to be both Vulcan and human but that only matter as much as to her as the definition of who he was. She embraced him and their friendship as she had with her study of languages - mastering the cultural nuances, seeing the similarities and respecting the differences.

He perked up his brow when she waited for his response to her question about whether the universe with all its explosions and varied violent reactions ever have an instrument that could record the noise it made despite the vacuum?

" That is a fascinating question, Nyota. One that I had not consider before and wish to speak with you more about but if you would excuse me, I shall return with our dessert." Spock stood with his chair noiselessly skidding across the floor and went to the kitchen. He came back with two small bowls of ice cream, fried plantain slices poking out along the rim.

Nyota was no longer seated at the table and off to his right he heard the toilet flush and bathroom door open. He placed the bowls down near their finished plates of dinner and went off in search of Nyota when she hadn't emerged from the bedroom, where his bathroom was connected.

He found her with her back to the door sitting on his bed hunched over something that had her complete attention.

" Are you well?"

She turned in surprise and placed a hand to her chest with an exaggerated sigh of shock. " Oh my gosh Spock stop stalking around, you're going to give me a heart attack! Make some noise when you walk around!" she slurred.

" You are inebriated."

She shrugged, the sloppiness of her movements making her giggle. Spock observed her from the doorway more entertained than confused as to how the movement of her shoulders could make her so amused.

He spied what had kept her company after vacating the bathroom laid out beside her looking regal and stately despite its broken string. " Are you familiar with this instrument?" he asked fingering the broken string hanging limply over a fret.

She hummed and gave a vigorous nod. " Vulcan's version of a lyre..."

" A Ka'athyra." he supplied automatically. She was smiling with a hazy look to her eyes and she reached out and plucked a few of the strings at random giving off an strange, discordant sound that filled the quiet bedroom. Her eyes flickered from Spock to the lyre and her face slowly spread into a gaping opened mouth grin.

She bounced up off the bed much more animated than she previously had been hopping up and down in place as she pulled at his arm not holding the instrument. " Oh! Oh! Play for me! Play for me please! C'mon, let's go out to the living room to hear you strum!"

Spock looked at her arms hooked around his, his feeling of gleeful anxiety fanning over him once more as he thought of an excuse that wasn't a lie to ward her off from hearing him play. " The string is broken."

Her cheeks puffed out as she pouted her lips and slapped him lightly on his bicep. " Well fix it! I wanna be romance and that includes being serenaded." she added with heavy nod as she tried to look serious and failed as she took in his face after she struck him. " Oh c'mon I didn't even hit you hard! Look if you're chicken I understand...you only had to say so."

He looked up to her smug drunken face, her lashes obscuring any other hint of what else she may have been feeling but he could feel it in the loose embrace of her arm still looped around his. She was in a playful mood but she was definitely aroused. He sniffed discreetly and smelled her moisture as a verification of what he already felt to be true in Nyota's touch. His book made note of how some humans would ease sexual tension by way of play and humor. If his lady wished to play then he was ready to fully engage her.

" You are right I am not hurt but you misunderstood my hesitance in playing. There is a certain customs that we Vulcan observe when playing the ka'athyra for an audience...that would be you in this case, that we traditionally have some sort of accompaniment perform as well. I have heard in passing from many of your peers that you sing quite well. Perhaps you would be my performance partner..., unless of course you are too craven to do so..."

He let his words linger in the air as he reached down into the ka'athyra's case beneath the bed, selected a new piece of string and fitted it as he watched Nyota huff in mock offense out of the corner of his eye.

" Oh I see! So you think you can bully me into singing so you can wiggle your way out of playing?! Ha, I don't think so. I'll take you up on your challenge but I'm going to be dance instead." Nyota grumbled while she unlatched the straps of her heels and kicked off her shoes and marched down the hallway into the living room. " Bring it on, Lyre boy!"

Spock felt a smile tug at his lips but they remained firmly in place as he carried his ka'athyra into the room and settled himself onto the sofa. Nyota shoved the coffee table out of the way making room for her 'stage' and stretched a bit as he tuned the strings.

" You may resend your offer at anytime, Nyota. It appears as if you are out of practice." he commented as if he were concerned. To his pleasure she continued to grouse playfully and told him to start all ready and that she didn't have all night to deal with his ' stage fright'.

Spock struck a chord and quickly launched into a tantalizing melody that had its roots in pre-enlightened times. It was a fertility dance song that was heavy in rhythm and like all songs of its kind it was sultry as it was easy to dance to. His fingers along the long arching neck of the lyre tapped out the bass line and he nodded for Nyota to begin.

At first she just stood there in the middle of the floor listening to the notes but after a while she began to sway. The sway gave way to a dip of her hips and she slinked across the floor locking eyes with him as she lifted her arms and shimmed towards him.

He swallowed and held his breath as she twirled and pulled at the ribbons of her corset as her hips continued to rock. She looked coyly over her shoulder while it fell to the ground and leaning forward to give him a quick pick between her cleavage. Stepping out of the ring of stiff fabric, Nyota ran her hands over her arms down her sides until she set them on the flare of her hips. She gave a soft sigh as she continued to move her body in ways that were all too suggestive of what she was currently thinking about; what they both were thinking about.

He slowed the tempo, giving her a heated look of his own as he watched her slender limbs twist and bend to the music that he played. There was something heady in being able to make her move like this, wanton and promiscuously and to do so for his eyes only.

Nyota came closer with her expression now smoldering as she turned her back to him once more and hide her hands underneath the flare of her skirt and swayed back and forth to the slower rhythm.

" I see that I was wrong to assume that you were out of practice."

Spock took a quick breath as Nyota bent over not 2 feet from his person rolling her hips in front of his face and gave her butt bounce into a teasing wiggle.

" You were wrong baby" she purred. She slide her hands down her legs with her panties in tow, dragged along by her thumbs. " I'm down right proficient."

With a step and leap Nyota dashed across the living room, waving the lacy unmentionable around like an extension of her hand as she drove Spock to increase the tempo. The brightly colored satin in her hand lured his gaze, distracting his attention away from the former wearer. She notice of course and winked at him when their eyes met once more.

" It seems my adoring fan wants something to remember me by. Here!"

Nyota spun again and threw the panties at his head where they made an ungraceful landing onto half of Spock's face. He shook his head but the undergarment remained stubbornly hooked onto his ear. When he shrugged and continued to play Nyota fell over laughing. He improvised the ending and stood, setting the ka'athyra onto his seat as he crawled over to where Nyota was currently rolling around.

The soft curves her backside peeked out from under her dress, jiggling slightly as she laid there laughing on her side. Spock stopped his advance and tilted his head in hopes of getting a glimpse of something else, when she spied him peeping.

" Oh no you don't you, perv!"

" I am not a deviant, I am merely...observant of those things around me..." he taunted, lifted a bit of her dress up before she giggled and smacked his wandering hand away.

She stopped laughing but her smile reminded as she rolled over onto her back and laid propped up on her elbows so she could study the Vulcan wearing her underwear from his ear. She poked him with her toe, once, twice, and grinned at him.

" I don't think yellow's your color, Spock-kam." she teased pointing her foot towards the dainty drawers.

Spock plucked the underwear from around his ear and placed it neatly onto the chair. " Can you tell me what my color is Nyota?" he asked softly and she looked away bashfully at his change in tone.

Had he done something wrong? Maybe she still wanted to play and he had once again made things serious? He went onto all fours, boldly crawling over on top of where she laid. She looked up at his face and he saw that the passion he noticed earlier was back in her eyes. Good, with that he felt more confident in trying something a bit brazen.

He picked at the bust line of her dress, pulling it short of revealing the nipple he was eyeing pressed stiffly against the thin cloth. He lowered his head and ran his teeth over each bud in a mock bite, being careful to keep his touch as light as possible for fear of hurting her or going to fast. It only seemed to excite her as she pushed her chest into his face and clawed at his scalp in an effort to pull his mouth closer.

" Spock..."

She shivered beneath him but made no objection to his soft exploration. He looked down at her from underneath his lashes and ran his hand gently over her arms, still finding great enjoyment in teasing her.

" Nyota, you are trembling. Why would you remove your clothing when you know that humans have difficulty retaining their heat? First your corset..." he dragged his fingers down her across midriff, slipping them beneath her dress's hem to cup her heated sex. He pushed between the petals of her labia and dipped his index finger inside as he continue to cup her, watching her face as she whined and bit her lip." and then your underwear."

She gasped when he stroked the damp finger up along her slit, drawing slow wet, circles around her stiff clitoris. " Now you have put out your host by having to make your comfort his priority. Nyota what a troublesome guest you are."

" Troublesome? I thought Vulcan's don't lie?"

" I am not. I find you most burdensome." he groused, sitting back on his heels as he unbuttoned his pants and pulled his himself free. Her eyes went wide and her breath hitched Nyota took in the sight of his lok laying rigid, heavy in his hands. It wept what she assumed to be pre-cum but...there was so much of it she wondered if he had already ejaculated. He looked at Nyota and back down to his member both answering the question written on her puzzled face. " It is a lubricant that males make before intercourse..."

With her question answered, focused back to her earlier point as she narrowed her eyes at the Vulcan and lifted her chin. " I'm not burdensome or troublesome."

He mirrored her expression and pulled her firmly onto his lap, his lok rubbing in between the hot cleft of her sex as he ground up against her. She trembled with a soft whimper and held onto Spock's shoulders. " You're not being fair! I can barely think when you do that."

" Is that so? I hardly think it's fair for you to come here in this..." he quipped, grabbing a hold of her dress and shredding the garment in two with ease, taking delight as he listen to her shriek as she hurried to cover the newly exposed skin. He thumbed the fabric in his hands and let it fall to the floor. "...this flimsy dress..., force me to watch you shake from the cold and obligate me to keep you warm. My climate controls are already set to Vulcan standards what would you have me do, turn the temperature higher and have me possibly suffer a heat stroke? Look at you, shivering. This will not do. As your host I must endeavor to keep you warm, no matter the difficulties I will have to face."

She bit a her lip and she furrowed her eyebrows and Spock wondered if he had gone to far. That was until she rubbed up against him. That was all the encouragement he needed to get started. He crushed her soft torso to his and rubbed his face along her neck, angling his head so he could whisper in her ear.

" First, I'll need to check your internal temperature...orally."

" Orally?! Wha...WHOA!" she yelped as her head and shoulders bounced onto the carpet and Spock took a firm grip of her hips as he pulled her bottom up towards his face. Looping one arm around each leg, he spread them wide and held her still as he snaked his pale green tongue down her thigh, across her mound and gave her clit a light nip.

Nyota flinched with a mew and he eyed her through the neatly trimmed patch of hair and slowly sunk his tongue into her tight, wet heat. She clenched around him, holding his thick, raspy tongue in place and Spock growled at the low, throaty moan that proceed his name as Nyota's moaned and her toes curled.

He ventured deeper, focusing on licking spots inside her where she fidgeted and whimpered the most, and found that she seemed to enjoy the way his nose repeated brushed against her clit as he mouthed her pussy hungerily.

Nyota transformed before his eyes from a vivacious dancer into a needy, wanton lover. She begged for him to suck and he did so on her swollen clit, she demanded his fingers which he eagerly filled her with, she mewed for his tongue and Spock licked at her slick folds with abandon.

He fought between the desire to close his eyes and focus in on the lewd sounds and mellow taste in his mouth or watching her twist and beg for more. It wasn't until felt her energy coiling tightly within her that he decided without doubt that he wanted to watch him make her climax. It tingled and buzzed along his fingers, lips and tongue and he had to mentally drag himself back for fear of being swept away along with her when she came.

She clawed at the carpet and keened did he nuzzle his face deeply into her sex, lapping at the flood of moisture that coated his fingers and chin.

As Nyota lay shaking and panting he lowered her waist a bit and lined his lok along her spasmming entrance as he sucked at his lips. " You could stand to be 2 degrees hotter by my gauge. I can remedy you of your slight chill, Nyota if you would allow me too?"

" That was a highly illogical way of taking my temperature."

Spock ran his fingers across her pouty mouth, purring when she kissed at the pads. " It was but effective nonetheless. Not to mention enjoyable."

He shifted his fingers over top of her cheeks and felt the tempting brush of her mind, still dizzy from her high numbing his hand as he politely held back from sinking inside. She looked up at him blushed and somewhat sated but like him, she wanted more.

"Nyota...can I...may I have permission to meld with you,...please?" he added at the last moment. Licking his lips he felt stretch and focus gleefully onto him. Almost, a little too gleefully.

Nyota smirked and look off to the side with a hmm. " Ohhh, I don't know, Spock... I don't think you've earned it."

He growled and planted his hands on either side of her face. " I would say I have gone out of my way to accommodate your needs, why should you not indulge me in mine?"

She sniffed, the smell of wine wafting up to his nose. " You need it? Sounds more like you just want it. Anyone could have accommodated me the way you did..."

" Not like me..."

" Earn it and I'll let you meld with me."

He glared at her and sighed right as he pressed himself inside of her with a curt thrust of his hips. She swallowed and gasped at the burning stretch of his lok's fast entrance. Her eyes were shut tightly and held her breath as he pushed further in. " Are you in pain?"

She shook her head and opened her eyes slightly. " No, it's just been a while...well you know - Oh my God, mmm do that!"

He shifted his hips and brought her lower back up off the floor, tilting so that every thrust his pelvic bone with come into contact with hers. She silently mouthed at the air as she felt herself being set aflame once more.

" Give me permission."

She dug her nails into his shoulders and hissed as he took a mouthful of her breast into his open maw. " You can't just badger me into giving it to you."

" Why can I not? First you say that I must earn it and now you want to place other stipulations on melding with you while I am left lurching as I try to adjust to your fickle ways?"

When Nyota didn't readily answer he turned his attention back to mouthing at her breasts and settled on holding her hips for the time being.

He had broken many - 16 to be exact - rules for the first date according to the dummies book of what NOT to do during the first dinner at home date but the guide didn't have anything to apply to the context of their particular sexual 'relationship'.

To say it was complicated was truly an understatement and to treat it as such would be a delusion of grandeur under which he did not wish to suffer; the lemongrass side effects were enough.

He was just tired, of all the suppression, of all the secret innuendos and especially weary of not being connected with her in mind and body as he knew they both wanted.

" Please, Nyota?" he huffed out along collarbone.

Spock felt her smile as he licked tentatively at her windpipe and grazed his teeth along her neck while still pumping himself inside her. " Spock are you whining? Would you really stoop so low?"

He growled and nipped her neck with a swift slam of his hips that rattled her teeth.

" Hmm, I take that as a yes. Well fine then, mind fuck me already."

" Nyota, language."

She rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out just as he was aligning his hand along her face and sought the familiar weight and signature warmth of her mind. When he submerged himself, he snuggled into her with a deep, resounding purr.

_/ Show me...show me how you desire me, Nyota./_

_/ How?/_

_/ In your thoughts. Show me a daydream./_

_As he closed his eyes for focus, he opened his mind's eye to a field of lush, tall grass. The few trees that dotted the landscape were dark and crooked in their branching. The sky was enormous and a very terran blue. / The mara.../_

_Spock felt a presence behind him just as something pounced him and pushed him towards the ground. He turned in the fall and saw Nyota pinned beneath him, beautiful and sun-kissed with ornate beads and braids in her wet and wavy hair._

_" Habari." she cooed, fighting to get loose of his hands and grab a hold of him. He looked at her, puzzled by her language. She blinked and some part within him was filled with a vocabulary that he found both foreign and familiar._

_" Hello." he answered by in the same tongue of her people. He eased up on his hold and she wiggled free of his hold entirely._

_" Catch me, catch me! Catch me, Spock and you can have me!" she winked calling back in her singsong tongue. She was off before he even made it to his feet. She was a bright blur of red and blue cloth racing across the grass, darting here and there to avoid things that were hidden to him by the grass. He took off and was behind her in a matter of seconds and he confidently reached out to catch her. She spied him and shifted her speed more agile the dream world than the real. He struck out to grab her once more and was again met with air and her tinkling laughter._

_" Too slow, too slow! You can't catch me!" she grinned and bolted off into a thicket. He ran in after her, branches scratching and pulling at his limbs as he tracked her. When he came to a clearing he spun around looking for the direction in which she went when he heard her snickering from above. She was up in a tree hanging by the bend of her knees with her arms and hair hanging down loosely._

_" You hunt like a vulture." she snorted._

_" Vultures do not hunt." he countered._

_" My point exactly..." she said before breaking out into a huge peal of laughter. In his mind her feel her amusement and excitement in sharing this side of her. An Uhura, free of Starfleet, the piece of her that was bound to this earth. She nimbly jumped down and landed neatly on her hands and feet._

_He walked over as she stood and admired the strong woman before him. A female of Earth, a lady of Terra. In her vision she pictured him as fierce and devoid of most of his clothing and he used this image to his advantage._

_He loomed above her, holding the back of her neck as he pushed his hips up against her. She melted into his touch but playfully swatted his hands away as he started for her waist. This continued until he growled and pushed her to the soft, damp earth. " Obey me."_

_She lifted her chin and snorted at him. " Make me."_

_He fell down beside her, flipping her over to her belly before she could fend him off. He kneed her legs open and held her by her scruff as he pushed himself inside her, both of them groaning in sync as he shifted and found a comfortable position. Here she was loud, her vocalization carrying far beyond the thicket as if she wanted for the whole Mara to her of her great pleasure. She still arch back and swiped at his torso when he was in reach._

_Spock snarled and angled her more into the soft bedding of the grass. " If you want to act like an unruly lioness, then I will treat you as such."_

_He leaned forward, pushing his superior weight onto her and bite her shoulder as he ground into her. She hissed in pleasure and arched as best she could into lok's assault, clawing the dirt and licking her lips as he took her harder and faster than he had started to in the begin. He felt her immense pleasure in his display of strength and prowess and learned a bit more about her in their meld._

_She loved him at his most primal, when his emotions were raw and boiling over into his actions, his fear of her seeing him as lesser during the display gave way into a commingled joy of their rough and noisy coupling._

_He felt her physical body churn in sync with her id and the African beauty pinned beneath him pawed at the earth as she came with a shriek. Spock's grew heavy as she milked his lok for demanded his climax in turn. He released her shoulder from his mouth and ran his face along her sweat beaded back, lapping at it as he felt himself come closer. _A sharp stab of concern jabbed at him and he released the meld to look down at the real Nyota.

" What is amiss?" he asked shifting her leg and resting her foot along his chest. He did not want to stop and he hoped that the slight change in position would alleviate any pain she may have experienced.

She arch beneath him as he held her foot in place with one hand and leaned his weight onto the other. He slowed his thrusts but still ventured deeply and the leg she had wrapped about his hip tightened and she looked away from his face with a soft sigh of feeling almost overwhelmed by him.

" Please don't..." she whispered softly, her fingers clawing into the fibers of the carpet as he pressed her into, over and over again.

" Please do not what, Nyota?"

She bit her lip and shut her eyes into slits, releasing a small contented moan as he slanted forward, sinking deeper inside her.

" Come in me."

He released his hold of her foot and planted his hands on either side of her head, staring at her with unblinking eyes. A few seconds later he jerked and pulled out of her just as the first rush of his torrent pulsed out and marked her belly in a white, hot, sticky puddle. She held his face as he stroked his length from head to knot in his tight fist, hissing as the last of his orgasm tapered off and rung him dry.

He panted in ragged breaths above her and watched as she slowly sat up to embrace him. He went into her arms willingly, uncaring about the semen gumming up and matting in the hair along his chest and abdomen. They remained in that position for a while into Spock folded his legs and gathered Nyota into lap. She ran her fingers lightly up and back his back and his eyes fluttered shut. Guided by a desire to do so, Spock cupped her head right below her jaw and pulled her face to his, giving a deep, groan of contentment as he felt the wispy tendrils of her mind sweep across the skin along his psi points.

" You don't regret this do you?" she asked timidly.

He nuzzled past her face and into the crook of her neck and shoulder, planting a kiss at the juncture. " I regret none of the things we have done. "


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: I heard your pleas and Valyria came to your rescue and beta'd this chapter. A round of applause for meh frwend helping me out! Whoop, to that lil' Aussie angel *smooch* I have some tricky chapters after this so go and read ( and review) her stuff in the meantime. It's like women crack those fics of hers. Now back to the story. ( Anything that's left that's screwy is my fault, totes)

After a very distracted dual shower session, they emerged from the bathroom, Nyota straddling Spock's waist as the Vulcan carried her gingerly over to his bed, flipping the sheets and comforter back before drawing it back over the top of them.

Nyota blinked sleepily beside him, snuggling into his warmth at the cool touch of the sheet and gave a happy sounding Mmm as he reached over and pulled her face forward for a kiss with his hand. She tilted into it, her blunt, pearly teeth grazing the tender flesh of his lower lip as she slipped her pink tongue alongside his green one. He drew her closer and pulled her body on top of his, taking comfort in the feel of her cool weight laying on his chest.

" We should get dressed." she mumbled against his mouth, too busy kissing him to be bothered with waiting until they were done to do so. He palmed the cheeks of her ass and pushed her up closer to his mouth to deepen the kiss. It was a sufficient distraction away from thinking and planning but a few minutes later she pawed at him and whined. " I'll get cold if I go to sleep naked."

Spock kneaded her plump bottom and broke the kiss with a wet smack, admiring the rush of blood currently giving Nyota's pouty mouth a flush rosy color. His chest rumbled with a poorly restrained purr as he pulled at a loose tendril of hair that had freed itself from her high bun and spun it slowly around his finger.

" Do you not remember that as your host I will see to all you needs? I believed I succeeded in keeping you warm." he said with a face that was almost too straight as lift his hips to brush himself against her tender sex.

Nyota give a slight hiss in pain and shifted herself off of him. " Hey there, big boy. Give me some time to recover from our last round in the shower. I want some sort of pajamas or at least a t-shirt to sleep in after you ripped my dress apart."

She was right, he hadn't been particularly gentle with her any of times they coupled this evening. He had her once more on the floor and just recently in the shower where clean up had been extremely easy and now here he was sniffing around for more. Hmm, it be shameful but he regretted it not one bit.

" If my honored guest requires clothing she shall receive it."

He rose from the bed and slipped two pairs of sweatpants and undershirts, handing Nyota one set as he started to put on the other. She wriggled around beneath the sheets.

" Thank you, Spock."

He dipped his head and looked back towards the kitchen. " Would you happen to care for a drink? Water? Perhaps more wine?"

She shook her head at the mention of wine and grinned. " I had two hefty glasses of wine that when I last saw the bottle ended up draining out more than half. Water would be great though thank you."

" As you wish."

He grabbed the mug he commissioned out of his bag and filled the beribboned cup with a modest serving of water.

She extended her hands out to take the mug, pausing as she spun it slowly from one side to the other before catching sight of the handle with a scowl on her face.

" It is my Valentine's day gift to you." he commented, hoping he had not displeased her with the severity of its lateness. She remained quiet, thumbing the Vulcan calligraphy in long, measured strokes focusing on the words I cherish just as her bottom lip started to quiver. Fat tears slide slowly down her face and she made a soft sobbing noise. " Spock..."

" Did I do something inappropriate? I am sorry that I did not have a gift for you to give you on Valentine's Day as you gave to me and I hoped that the offense of receiving one late would not trouble you so." he chest clenched as more tears fell down her face at his explanation.

" No, this is...this is wonderful, I just wasn't expecting one...from you...and the message." she sniffled clutching the mug in her hand like a new found treasure.

" It is a statement of how I feel towards you." he murmured slowly, edging onto the bed as she tugged at his hand, her feeling of affection bubbling up through her cool fingers like that of a spring.

She set the mug down and pulled him closer into a tight hug, resting her chin on his broad shoulder. " Thank you."

" It was no trouble."

" No." she said, cupping his face and rubbing her nose against his as she bit at her lip. " Seriously, I know it wasn't the easiest thing for you to do, making something so sentimental, letting me know how you feel about me...I love it...I love you."

She crushed her mouth to his and they fell down with a bounce to the bed, becoming a tangle of limbs and heat once more. Knotting his hands through her hair Spock held her head still as he licked her windpipe up to the point of her chin, huffing a bit when her fingers dug into the flesh of his ass and pushed him towards her hips. " You are still sore. I do not wish to harm you."

" Please...I want you to make love to me." she whined and ground against him once more. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his left eyebrow giving a tick as he strove to concentrate on not giving into her demands.

" You are insatiable."

" Not true, you just feel so good. You make me want more of you."

He tilted his head and looked at her beneath him. " Is that not the same?"

She smiled and crossed her arms across her chest, tucking her hands around her sides. " Is it a bad thing? Me wanting you so much?"

" No. Just a statement of fact." he replied evenly, leaving out the part that it brought him deep gratification to be desired by her so much.

She blinked heavily and gave a long yawn. He inspected her teeth in rapt fascination as she did, only looking away when she opened her eyes to look back at him. " You wanna talk instead then?"

" I would be amenable. " he said drawing the sheets over her and pulling her closer to pillow her head with his arm.

Spock laid there on the bed holding her and indulged her need for pillow talk until she gave into the pull of her fatigue and fell asleep mid sentence, lightly drooling along his bicep with a breathy snore.

He extracted himself and retrieved the gift wrapped mug, placing it on kitchen counter so he could fill it with tea for her when she awoke and had breakfast.

He went to the stasis cabinet and looked in dismay to find he had little at all to feed her. When Nyota had busied herself with preparing her hair for the evening, Spock had helped himself to the rest of the meal, working up an appetite after this evening's...activities.

He needed more tea and wanted to check on something that might be in stock at the market so Spock put on his coat and hat and set out to the corner store for groceries.

In the coolness of the early morning he sighed peacefully into the dark air watching as his warm breath curled like hot, wet smoke in front of his face.

The red and white channel lighting of the 24 hour market sign shined brightly against the dull blackness of the sky. It was fading into a muddy golden brown as the sun threatened to crest over the horizon and it made Spock homesick for the longer days of Vulcan. His home planet's two suns and slow rotation made Earth's 23 hours 56 minutes and 2 seconds seem to go in the blink of an eye.

Spock entered the store and was greeted by the automatic digital bell as he stepped across the threshold and picked out his basket.

The Denobulian grocer had an easy time of keeping up his business as he required very little sleep and had a cheery disposition like that of most humans. He acknowledged Spock with one of his people's trademark ear to ear grins and went back to shelving as Spock dispassionately nodded back at him. He gathered his usual fare along with a few other things that he thought Nyota might enjoy eating for her morning meal.

As he deliberated over a chocolate bar near the checkout, he thought idly over the idea of asking Nyota to stay over during her suspension. She could say she was traveling and he could hide her away in his room like his sordid, little secret and finally see fit to scratching the itch that Cadet had given him.

Yes, that might be nice, to go to her in between Pike's reports whenever he wished, to do whatever he wished with her and to her, seeing what mewing sounds he could draw out of her mouth as he did so.

Yes it would be quite nice to explore her mind, map her body, take her until they were both tired and sore only to repeat it again the next day. If there was anything that Vulcans saw as alluring and tempting as a truth speaking people, it was secrets and having Nyota, still a Starfleet Cadet and a very beautiful, very human female, locked up in his bedroom for several days would be Spock's biggest secret yet.

He checked out his grocery and tried his best to discreetly ask after Vulcan male contraceptives. The Grocer gave smiled with an amused Oh and tried to engage in small talk about his lover.

" It is not something I would rather discuss. I will take the contraceptives if you have any."

The Denobulian sighed and thought and shook his head. " Well I may be able to get some gel in for you but you know how you fellows are with conventional condoms...RRRIIIIPPP, hehehe." the shopkeeper joked as he acted out the action of Spock's lok knot ripping the condoms base into shreds.

From Spock's less than enthused face the Denobulian cleared his throat and handed him his bags.

" Ah, yes...I'll uh let you know when we get the gel in. Until that time be careful."

Spock glared at him and left the store a little less buoyant than when he came in.

The receptionist in the lobby gazed up from her crossword puzzle and waved him over to the front desk. " Hello and good morning Mr. Spock, you've received a package with the couriered mail this morning." she said primly, handing him a small bubble wrap lined manilla envelope.

He turned it in his hands and thanked her with a curt bow which she politely returned.

After he placed down the groceries on the counter, he opened the unaddressed package to find a small, square flash drive inside. This too was unmarked and looked like a disk one could buy just about anywhere. He walked to his bedroom, noting the shower running and Nyota gone from the bed as he loaded the disk to his comm and brought up the files to the screen.

Spock stared at the screen in shock for a noted 14 minutes and 36 seconds but the images had yet to change their appearance. He swallowed and took a ragged breath, scrolling up and down with his finger at the sordid evidence of his involvement with Nyota.

There he was with his head tilted forward with a snarl curling his lips as his hand palmed the back of Nyota's head as she engulfed his large, turgid member into her small pink mouth while Spock sat at his desk. The next was even more vulgar as he had her head pulled backed as he laced his semen onto her panting face and neck, her jacket torn, breasts exposed and her hand tucked up under her skirt as she sat back on her heels and sought her own completion. Someone had caught them, while he was under the hold of the lemongrass and...when Nyota had thought him sober enough to willingly consent to such an...act.

When he could stand them no longer he reread the text typed down below.

" If you want both of you two to come out of this with the least amount of damage then resign by Friday. If you don't then all of the galaxy will come to know how corrupt you are and what a slut she is. By Friday, Spock or else."

Spock stood up from his chair and paced back and forth in front of the comm, feeling more and more caged by the surrounding walls. How could have he have predicted such an occurrence? He was not without his logic, reason number 51 to not become engaged in courting Ms. Uhura was the chance of discovery by a third party. How true Pike's words were when he accused his logic of being flawed and in need of repair.

Nyota watched him nervously from the doorframe of the bedroom. He had sensed her presence for the last 2 minutes but had stubbornly refused to acknowledge her. It was her fault, none of this would have happened if she had just kept her feelings politely and rightly to herself.

" What's wrong?" she asked. The sincerity in her voice grated on his shredded nerves and he found himself tempted not to respond.

" What presently is wrong is on my screen demanding that I give my resignation to Starfleet by Friday or else we shall both have numerous consequences to face from both the Fleet and our families. Aside from that you happen to be at the crux of every problem I have had in the past two week and 2 days." he said in a voice all too snarky too be emotionless.

She flinched at his tone, looking at him as if he had transformed into a beast. " What do you mean?"

Spock gestured to the screen as he continued to pace the floor. " Go look. You have eyes to see such things. This is not something I feel compelled to explain to you."

She scowled at him as she walked towards the computer. " Watch your attitude. I might mistake you for a tellarite."

Spock glared at her as she observed the screen with a gasp. " With the images that were couriered to me this afternoon, someone may mistake you for a human with a traditional Orion upbringing with such lewd behavior captured on camera."

Nyota scrolled through the images, bringing up a preview to enlarge the first image and held a trembling hand to her mouth. " How?"

Spock stopped moving and huffed at her. " How? By your inappropriate actions and my intoxication while drinking the tea you poisoned me with, that is how. Such a pointless query when you know exactly how, Nyota."

Nyota shook her head and turned to face him. " But we didn't! I never..."

" It is right there on the screen Cadet. Are telling me to ignore the photographic proof before me?" Spock asked sharply his somewhat calm demeanor chafing against her.

She was earnestly crying now, wringing her hands as she still waved her head back and forth in defiance towards the screen. She sent herself a copy of the electronic mail for further investigation, Gaila should be able to help her get to the bottom of this. " I don't know how these came to be or how they were made but they're not real. We've only done..."

" Do not lie to me, Nyota." he growled coming up close behind her with a fierce expression on his face, patience and stoic posturing lost. " These photos will cost us our careers and reputation because you could not keep your emotions suppressed around your training officer. I am going to give my formal resignation along with these items on Friday."

It was then petite African's turn to huff as she stood from the chair and stood with him toe to toe. " You're not listening to me I said they're not real, you moron! Quit being idiotic and help me figure out who did this!"

Spock's composure was slowly coming back and he leveled an even glance to her and then back at the screen. " I'm hardly the one that could be considered inane, Cadet. Is that not the arabic tattoo that you have underneath your left arm along the top of your ribcage? Nor is the tiny star shaped birthmark I see right below your right clavicle in its proper position?"

" That doesn't prove anything! So what that's just..."

" Nyota, stop defending yourself and just admit to performing the act of fellicio with me in my office. I could not and still can not recount my whereabouts or actions for Sunday after my memory class but it looks as though I have my proof. We can both see that you clearly did so why lie about something when the truth is apparent?"

" Because I didn't do it you jackass!" she hissed, angrily brushing past him to gather her things.

Spock followed her out, suppressing his ire of her denial of the documented events. He held himself still as she busied herself with getting dressed, his heavy Vulcan robe left discard over the back of the chair like an affront to her sensibilities. Didn't she see how the situation was no longer contained? He was the one taking the bullet this time and all she could do was wish it away with her vapid monologue. The nerve...

" I trusted you to tell me the truth Nyota. I can not believe that I granted you my company and my companionship even after I reasoned that we could not logically carry on and cavort like rutting animals."

He watched as she quickly slipped into her shoes, not bothering to lace them up but instead just tucking her finger in between her heels and the shoes' backing. Tapping her toes onto the ground she fetched her bag along with the rest of her things and dumped them unceremoniously onto the dining room table. Her sudden silence annoyed him to no end. How dare she try and remain innocent of any wrongdoing. Harlot...

" I melded with you, Nyota. I do not take that intimate action lightly. Shared my mind with you, even considered bonding with you and you repay my confidence with treachery?"

She yanked open the top of her PADDbag and forcefully stuffs her belongings into the main compartment. " I repaid you with my heart Spock and you've gone and broken it with your refusal to listen to me. My love means nothing if you don't trust me."

" Your love is toxic." he hissed, his placid expression masking the boiling rage underneath. " Our lives are falling apart because of it and all you can speak of is the figurative failing of your cardiac health because I do not believe you. Speak simply and literally. Now is not the time for human hyperbole and metaphors."

" Did I ever mean anything to you Spock or have I always been an unwelcome burden? Which is it? Was this just some one-side romance where you took pity on your poor, female subordinate or is it that you love me too and you're just afraid to commit to all that a relationship between us would entail?"

He ground his teeth and stayed stubbornly mute as she wait for him to reply. Her frown deepened and she insinuated herself even closer to his face, staring up into his eyes with scorn. " What? You don't have anything to say now?"

" Why offer any logical explanation to you when you refuse to be rational and listen to reason? If I were to reply to you I would find myself speaking just to utter words ineffectually into the air as you continue to be deceitful." he stepped back, mirroring the emotional gap he wedged between them.

" What the hell do you want from me Spock!?" Nyota yelled, searching his face for something, anything of how he felt but coming up empty.

Again she was met with silence and the tension in the room doubled in strength. She had to leave, get out of here and away from him because every time she looked at that face she had been admiring for the past three years she found herself on the edge of tears again. They were already brimming up on top of her bottom lids, threatening to spill but she wouldn't cry for him again.

Bastard and his damn Vulcan face! Everyone liked to talk about how Vulcans were heartless and she was now inclined to agree. How could he do such an about face and turn his back on her? This was beyond cold, his words cut to her like razors to the quick. When things got tough it looked like he would only be out for himself. She had thought better of him but look where that got her. She was better off trying to go steady with Kirk with the way this played out.

" I can't believe how foolish I was to ever believe you could love me." she whispered softly. She was biting her lip hard now from what Spock assumed to be distress but he could not be bothered to even put in the effort to comfort her. If she wanted to ruin her life and everyone else's then she could do it well away from him.

Nyota stood up, shouldering her bag and moved towards the door when Spock blocked her exit. " You need to retrieve everything, you not be permitted back into my apartment." he commanded sternly.

She sucked her teeth and tried to sidestep only to find him mirroring her movement once more. " Look Spock, I have what I need. Whatever else I fucking leave behind you can just throw away. You seem to have an easy time of doing THAT!"

Spock's gaze shot over to where the mug he made her sat soundly and lonely of its mate's company. Nyota followed his gaze to the cup and shook her head no in an ever growing trend of negation. " No I don't think so. I don't want it."

His eyes narrowed and he stepped forward towering over her in height. " I made it for you. The least that you could do is demonstrate gratitude by accepting the mug, I did the same with your Valentine's day gift, despite the immaturity and paltriness of it. "

" Why would I want anything that would remind me of the worst time in my life?! Paltry? Immature?! We could be joining forces to find out who's behind this and even sent these pictures but all you wanna do is blame me for feeling weak since you have to deal with your emotions in a different way. It must be really difficult for you to accept love from someone who actually gives damn about you!" she ranted, her neck and cheeks now flush from the rage that was consuming her.

He dispassionately looked away from her, everything in his posture dismissive and cold.

"Oh I'm sorry, am I offending your Vulcan sensibilities? I'm a just simple, emotional human! Perhaps you'll find it logical to forgive me?" she spat.

He glared at her from underneath his brow and flashed her a quick sneer. " Take it and leave, Cadet."

High on the strength of her fury she marched over to the kitchen entrance and swatted the mug off the countertop and sent it crashing to the floor. " You know what lies and truths have in common, Spock? They only matter to those who believe in them!" she said with a cracking voice. " You can believe the worst of me and that I took the mug and I'll believe that I never slept with you or loved you."

Spock looked blankly from her dejected face to the shattered pieces rocking against the tile as Nyota swiftly rushed past him and made her exit. She yelled out as she neared the door, thoughts of neighbors calling to report a domestic disturbance far from her mind. He hurt her, deeply, and right now she wanted nothing more than to lash out and dig at him as he had with her.

"Keep your stupid bond for someone who wants to be stuck with you! Maybe someone will get off on your creepy telepathy and your ears, you giant space imp! I HATE YOU!"

He swiveled to see the flick of her ponytail trailing hotly behind her as the door cycled shut. He looked back at the cup and felt an overwhelming wave of lassitude flood him. He had not moved even five feet in the past 32 minutes but he felt worn as if he had just run a marathon.

Spock walked out of the dining room area and into his bedroom, collapsing on the bed into a heap, feeling wretched and weary. He hoped to soon be taken hostage by his gravid fatigue and made to stop dwelling on his past and present, his last exchange with Nyota tiring him for what felt like would be days.

Closing his eyes he counted, willing himself to fall asleep but finding his rest slippery and elusive. When she was near he stayed awake for other reasons, wanting to be ever present during her waking hours but with her now gone for the foreseeable future, what was the point?

In the confines of his mind he organized a schedule for finishing up all of Pike's outstanding paperwork along with packing his belongings. Telling his parents was not something he planned on, they would find out soon enough. He would have to leave soon and take up a new career. Perhaps he could find a research position alongside T'Mar working on the production of the heliosphere? All this would be answered in good time he guessed but for now he would sleep and then get on with the task of preparing his departure from Earth and Starfleet.

When logic fails and emotion are found to be fleeting, what else is there to rely on?


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Thanks to Valyria for once again beta'ing fer me and for KittyKatKawai for poking me into posting action (she's writing a god story too by the way. Pon Farr, need I say more?). All the rest of the typos are all me after the fact. Now sleepy time.

Spock shut down his comm after logging away the 2nd quarter of Pike's progress reports for Enterprise's construction. He had been working for 16 hours straight from the time he awoke, only pausing every hour to check his personal comm for any missed messages.

Still no calls or word from her. It was illogical to check the comm when he was perfectly capable of hearing the ringer or buzzer for any missed calls and even more irrational for him to even consider she wanted anything to do with him after yesterday's argument.

As it was he was still waiting for a response from both the Vulcan Science Academy and the monks at the rebuilt monastery at P'Jem as venues for his possible relocation. He very much doubted he would want to stay here on Earth after such a disgrace and after his short lived relationship with Nyota fell short of its fledgling potential.

He rose from his seat and walked past the dining room, careful not to look over towards the box containing the remains of Nyota's dress and her broken mug. Entering the bathroom he washed his face, with lukewarm water which shocked his system as much as cold water would for a human. Blinking both sets of eyelids he toweled his face dry and looked at himself in the mirror.

His skin was flushed bright green as he turned his face and looked it over in the mirror. A fresh crop of stubble lined his jaw while his eyes were sore and puffy. He should have slept more he scolded himself as he felt along his chin before deciding to forego a quick shave. He needed to drop by his office and retrieve the last of his belongings before his handing in his resignation on Friday.

From the door he could hear the soft, metallic chirp of his comm singing in his bedroom. Spock ignored it and carried on with his hygiene routine brushing his teeth and flossing when the comm finally quieted down and gave up. He ran his tongue over the smooth ivory of his teeth and felt moderately refreshed. Not wanting to waste time dithering around his house, Spock finished dressing and set out for main campus. The door was just shutting as his home comm gave a dolent ding to acknowledge the presence of video mail in his inbox.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Spock popped the collar a bit on his jacket and slipped on a pair of gloves. Though Earth was by no means Andoria, it was still quite chilly compared to his home planet. He resisted the urge to stuff his hands into his coat pockets and continued rigidly down the remaining blocks towards the main gate.

Passing through it, Spock surveyed the grounds, immaculately maintained and trimmed down to the leaf. It bought him a measure of peace to see something so well kept just because it should be. He wondered absently if the gardner was a Vulcan but he did not want to take due credit to the more likely human chief horticulturist.

Spock's eyes settled towards the northeast and he recalled Nyota being especially fond of the Sequoia sapling that was being nurtured at the quad's center. She commented to him over lunch 32 days ago in that off handed, human 'chitchat' sort of way about how in her short time of being here at the academy that the infant tree had already grown 6 and ½ feet.

" Just to think what it would look like when I return after my first five year mission gives me goosebumps!" she chirped, hugging her empty mug between her palms.

" If its current growth trend continues then I would surmise it would be another 10 ¼ to 10 ¾ higher." Spock said between sips of his own tea dredges.

Nyota looked at him with what almost looked like an inaudible sigh and gestured to the tree seen from outside the teacher's lounge with a quick nod in its direction.

" That's not what I mean, it's imagining how it would look that would be exciting. You know like walking up to this humongous tree that towers over you as it grows ever closer to the sky! Can't you imagine that?

Spock drained the last of his tea and tilted his head towards her. " Imagining the tree closer to maturity? What would be the point? I can just come back 5 years from now and see its actual height."

Nyota turned away and washed her mug, replacing it back on the rack. " Yes, I suppose you can."

He did not quite understand why she departed right after but he had a feeling that he had in some way disappointed her. Strange that in that possibility he felt that emotion mirrored in himself. From that day on he tried with little success to please her, make her happy in small ways but he could not deny who or what he was, and that being did not take pleasure in the what ifs, only the cool stability of Vulcan logic.

Logic stood strong where emotion swayed and rocked within him like a stormy gale, picking up and dying out without warning. Where a fact was a hard almost tangible thought, his heart leaped these blocks of knowledge like hurdles, led by the invisible pull of his desire, his need for her.

He burned for her and when she received him, willingly, zealously it made him crave her all the more, to the point where his logic and emotions fought head on.

What was the point of pondering over a tree's height when logic dictates that it would surely grow taller if all its environmental and nutritional needs are met? Why sulk in his house because he forces his logic against her, against them and she had not called to reconcile? It was only logically that they should part but that did not negate the fact, a binding, irrefutable fact that he lov...

He spotted Nyota from all the way across the quad as the sequoia cleared from his view, sticking out like a sore thumb in the sea of red uniforms with the slouchy grey cable knit sweater and black leggings she wore.

Her hair swirled down around her face as the wind picked up and she absentmindedly combed it back with her fingers. A flash of anger constricted his chest while his heart leap at the sight of her. He was angry with many things, that the vision of her could evoke such an emotional response of longing within him, that she looked content if not happy while he was left feeling miserable after their quarrel but he was mostly irate with the fact that he could not rectify either of those issues.

He ducked inside a comm-booth and watched her as she made her way to the stairs based at the bottom of the Mayweather building. She stood there thumbing the shoulder strap to her bag, looking anxiously at the door while she waited near the base.

Spock was puzzled. As her casual civilian attire confirmed, Nyota was still on academic probation and had no need to be on campus and having knowledge of her spring semester schedule the cadet did not have any classes in the cartography and navigational arts building.

Spock watched her like hawk as he riddled over her possible agenda. Why was she there and who was she looking for? As she sighed and rubbed her neck someone caught her eye and she waved at them vigorously. Spock followed the direction of her wave and spotted a very slight, very pale male cadet. Pavel Chekov.

They exchanged greetings and Nyota fell in step beside the younger senior as they spoke in hushed tones Spock noted warily.

Nyota patted her classmate on the shoulder much to his delight and the console resting beneath Spock's hand crackled and hissed as he tightened his grip. It had not even been one full day and she was already huddled up next to another man. Another male. He gritted his teeth and exhaled loudly out of his nose as his face threatened to shape into a snarl of resentment.

A sharp tapping on the comm booth door brought his attention back to his current surroundings. He turned and eyed an impatient cadet waiting to use the comm system. " Are you going to make a call or what? I've been waiting here for 20 minutes!"

Spock's lack of uniform and unfamiliarity with the student who was standing puffed like a frazzled pigeon must have brought out the worst in the cadet. Had he been in uniform or if the cadet knew who he was then he would have surely waited, or at least addressed him in a more respectful tone.

Spock was too agitated to reprimand him or suggest the other booth not even two full blocks away, he simply removed his hand from the abused comm top and adjusted his coat.

" My apologies." he said absently, stepping out of the booth and feeling the cold nip at his ears. He ignored the rest of the huffy complaints flying out of the young students mouth and set off in the direction he last saw Nyota and Cadet Chekov heading.

Spock was just rounding a bend when he saw the pair entering the Senior boy's dormitory. Spock balled his fist and stuffed them into his coat pockets, determined to find out what exactly was going on between the two. He was just shifting his weight from his left to his right when Nyota emerged from the dorm's entrance some 34 minutes and 55 seconds later. She looked flushed with red dewy eyes while she rubbed at her nose with her sleeve. Had she been crying and confessing all to the cadet or had their meeting been more...intimate?

Before he had time to dwell on the notion his former TA and lover was off again, hair whipping behind her as she hurried to the Hoshi Sato language lab. He trailed behind her losing her every so often but he soon guessed her destination.

Spock entered his office there and found Nyota balancing haphazardly on the seat of his swiveling chair as she swept her hand on top of his filing cabinet. She turned with a gasp and quickly pocketed some sort of item into her back pocket.

" What are you doing in my office?"

Nyota blinked at his tone, a haughty frown slowly pulling at the corners of her mouth as she eased her way down the chair which was made more difficult by its unruly revolution on her descent to the ground. She straightened and picked her bag up from her former desk. She gave him a look that was equal parts venomous and forlorn as she pulled back her hair with her hand and gave it a gentle shake before huffing out a defeated sigh.

" I was just getting the rest of my stuff outta here." she mumbled, breaking her gaze to look down at the floor with a look that Spock associated with humans experiencing pain.

" I do not recall you ever placing any item of yours on top of my filing cabinet. Its location would be highly illogical for you or anyone for that matter as it is hard to place or retrieve one's belongings."

He looked at her face and she shied away further, ducking behind the black curtain of her hair.

" Alright, illogical or not I had to check and see if I left anything here."

He stepped closer and she backed away, clutching her bag to her midsection.

" Anything like what Cadet?"

She shook her head with a shrug and continued to back away as he advanced towards her.

" A PADD? A lipstick? A _camera_?" he whispered in his throat.

Her breath hitched and he caught the flicker of her eyes to him and back towards her pocket.

" A camera then? Ah, what a fool I was to think of you as my friend. Who could really be comrades with one who threatens exposure on something they set up as blackmail?"

She held up her hand, still holding firm to her bag with the other as she waved his accusation away.

" I didn't do that letter Spock, nor did I do the camera."

Spock remained silent for a time before speaking again and when he did his voice was barely recognizable. " If you didn't do it then who? Cadet Chekov? He would certainly have the know how to facilitate this sort of operation."

" _What_?! No! Pavel's nothing like that! Why would he even do such a thing?"

Spock ignored her question and cornered Nyota against the wall, looming above her ominously.

" First name terms? And what did you have to do to get him to betray his commanding officer? Did you spread your legs for him as you did for me?"

Spock saw the movement, he even reacted and pulled away but he still found himself shocked when Nyota's hand swatted fiercely against his cheek. She looked up at his face, her expression the most angry he had ever seen it and her body shaking with the strength of it when her facade cracked and she sobbed and gulped at the air. " _SHUT UP_! JUST, _SHUT_ UP! I can't even_ believe_ I'm trying TO HELP YOU!"

He huffed and started to reply but she fluidly slipped to the side and out of his way. She was almost to the door when he blocked her path. " Nyota."

" Move." she hiccuped, wiping her runny nose with the sleeve of her sweater.

" You must understand how all of this looks to me. Nothing that you're telling me logically makes sense."

" Move. Now."

" I will report you for breaking and entering into my office and for striking an officer."

" Whatever Spock. You may as well add improper relations with an officer too, right? You know everything and you can do no wrong and when you do you follow every rule to the letter on how to stick it to someone!" she sucked her teeth and sighed, starting over once more.

" Look I'm trying to help you but I can't tell you much more than that because I can't trust you to..."

" You can not trust me? How would you even come to such an imbecilic conclusion?"

Nyota screeched and shoved him as she exited his office. He ran after her blocking her path with his body, as he avoided touching her. To do so would be highly inappropriate in both public and manners and given her emotional state he felt it would also be a good deal uncomfortable...

" Nyota, I will report..."

She stopped and held up her hand so close to his face that he actually fell silent. She took a breath and squared her jaw as she glared at him with tired eyes.

" You don't owe me anything Spock, not a damn thing but I need you to do me one favor. Stay away from the brass until Friday. Until that time do whatever it is you do on medical leave and leave me to figure this all out. After Thursday at 12:00am feel free to do whatever your precious logic tell you to do but _please_ stay away from anybody until that time."

She walked away not waiting for a reply and he watched her disappear onto the turbolift.

Spock ground his teeth silently as he changed the schedule of his well ordered day to accommodate Nyota's request, not that he felt she deserved it. For all he knew she had done it all and was fickle in her commitment to see him ruined.

****He clenched his fist and started to the stairwell and headed towards the Vulcan embassy. He would give her until Friday to sort out what was looking like her meddling all along.


	10. Chapter 10

AN: OMG thanks so much to Valyria and PoorQueequeg for reading/editing and listening to my general bellyaching about being knocked up and watching a toddler. It ain't gonna get any easier. Thanks for all the favs, follows, reads and especially reviews :3 they comfort me. Sorry for any folks I haven't gotten back to on the reviews but know I love you and I'm just hella tired. Mwuah~!

The lobby was unusually busy that afternoon with Vulcans and humans alike hurrying from the spartan halls to their offices on silent feet with stone still faces. Upon his approach, the Vulcan guards snapped further into attention and dipped their heads in a respectful bow. " The house of S'chn T'gai honors us with its presence. Live long and prosper."

Spock nodded as well and replied with the traditional greeting of that of a high house to a lesser, ignoring the not so discreet stares of those waiting around for an appointment.

For all his achievements Spock knew he would probably not live (or ever do) enough to escape the dark towering shadows of his family's illustrious members. Each generation had to strive harder and go further to make their own merits stand out and make it clear to others that they were worth the position that they sought in any profession.

Now surrounded by other Vulcan delegates to Earth, Spock now wished that he had shaved as one or two of them shot him looks of appraisal as he made his way through the atrium towards the cafeteria.

With his schedule now awry after his confrontation with Cadet Uhura, he defaulted to a day typically spent in leisure on the weekends. He had not eaten since...he had dined on Nyota and was famished. The human staff here at the embassy were well trained in Vulcan cuisine and versed in a variety of dishes. As he entered he noted that 3 new certificates from the Parisian galactic culinary school of art lined the wall along with two new awards. He walked up to the holo screen advertising today's menu specials and as he felt a small tug of pride pulling at his side.

If Vulcans as a people admired anything about humans other than their wide variety of music, it was their proficiency in the kitchen.

He took a seat at a table in front of a window framing the foggy San Francisco landscape and watched as a tall, sturdy looking female human approached him.

" Welcome, sir. May this-one take your food selection?"

Spock nodded, hoping that his surprise at her relatively good Vulcan did not show up anywhere on his face.

His father had made an effort as ambassador to integrate as many humans as he could to the embassy from working alongside his assistants to helping to maintain the buildings. The dining area had been a big accomplishment on his part as many Vulcans voiced their misgivings about having an alien culture prepare foods from their homelands but they hadn't figured in man's ingenuity.

Within its first month the cafe was making money hand over fist, people flittering from all across the globe to get a taste of their foreign dishes.

The server returned with a neatly sized portions of a traditional country spread. A small bowl of savas fruits in bright reds and blues was placed to his left while a dish of spiced kheh bread served in fluffy bite size cubes with a thick, peppery Fori sauce poured over top was place to his right. Lastly a cream of Mashya soup was set before him and the waitress left without a word more.

" That is quite a bit of food for someone already so full."

Spock turned to see a stoic looking figure, draped in dull looking beige robes slowly approaching him. A Vulcan monk.

He gave a respectful dip of his head before starting his meal but the monk took that opportunity to seat down across from him. He tucked his hands into his sleeves and looked over the food appraisingly.

" How will manage to eat it all? You are so very full."

Spock looked up from the bread speared upon his fork and swallowed what was already in his mouth. It burned. " You speak in riddles."

The monk inclined his head at the waitress and she gave a curt nod back to him and hurried to the kitchen. Spock's brow flitted up towards his bang as he noted the elder Vulcan making himself comfortable in his chair and arranging his silverware to his liking.

He wasn't intending on eating at his table, was he?

" It is only a puzzle to those who are already lost to its meaning. If you were to think, I know you would understand young Lord S'chn T'gai."

The waitress came back and set a fresh pot of what smelled like Theris masu tea in front of the wizened logician complete with cup.

He gestured lightly to the cup and gave her a gentle look. " One more cup for my companion."

" I am here to serve." she nodded and retrieved another mug for Spock.

Spock was at a lost of what to do since he could see no way to politely extricate himself from the monk's company. He was already offering him tea to which Spock should in turn offer him some of his own bounty. He gestured just as the monk had before and served him a portion of his fruit and bread. " You honor me with your offer."

The elder Vulcan looked amused as he accepted the heavy laden dish from Spock and retrieved a fork from the placemat. " The honor is mine, young Lord but I am still concerned for your appetite."

" I have not eaten all day, I am more than capable of consuming the whole course with no trouble to my digestive system."

The sage ate a piece of Yon-savas and gave Spock a hard stare with a slow deliberate blink. This was as close as most Vulcan came to looking doubtful.

" I speak not of your digestive system or what it regulates but the turmoil within you."

Spock paused his spoon midway and watched his lunchmate curiously. " What would you know of my mind?"

" A great deal more than you think, I can assure you." he nodded while staking a few pieces of pla-savas on his fork. " My telepathy is...unique."

Spock tilted his head and let his spoon rest off to the side as he studied the man before him.

" Explain."

The monk waited until he was done chewing the savas before answering. " Telepathy within our race has a exceptional wide range from only being able to hold and maintain bonds to something as extreme and rare as telekinesis. I am more at the...latter end of the spectrum." he said thoughtfully.

Spock was perplexed and gave up on eating after his appetite for knowledge superseded his hunger for food. " But what is it that you know of my mind?"

The monk tested a cube of the bread and ate a few more gingerly before continuing on. " It is in conflict with your heart and therefore your Ka'tra suffers. Your logic is falling apart and if you do not seek to stop its unraveling it will spell your destruction young lordling."

Spock huffed aloud and glared at him incredulously, his food and tea now largely ignored. " You speak of heart and logic in the same sentence, maybe it is your logic that is undone if you wish me to mix my emotion with my reasoning?"

The elder gave him a lingering stare and returned to studying the plate that Spock had provided him. " You are not wholly Vulcan."

" Correct."

" In fact you are half human."

" Yes."

" And yet you wish to live your life as fully Vulcan."

" What is your point?"

" My point is that, your lifestyle does not fully accommodate who you are Spock of Vulcan and of Earth. You are indeed a son of our fallen planet but you stubbornly refuse to acknowledge the whole essence of your being."

Spock leaned back in his chair taken aback by the monk's forward behavior and for lack of a better word accusation. He should know how much Spock went out of his way to assure others' comfort, made sure to mask every feeling of doubt, remorse, enjoyment, etc..

This stranger should take into account Spock grew up on Vulcan, his education, his upbringing, his life had been all Vulcan and his only exposure to Terran culture came from short family visits and his mother's occasional story of growing up a young woman in the United States. For one of his brethren now to say, he should forsake it all, everything that his life had been since he came into being was ludicrous.

And what was this Vulcan monk know about being a human, an emotionally expressive creature?

" You know nothing of being human and yet you insist that I should completely change myself? To what end?" he said with a slight edge of accusation in his tone.

The older Vulcan inclined his head towards his tea and Spock begrudgingly refreshed his mug. The monk took his time, palming the small cup, seemingly to enjoy the warmth seeping through the vermillion ceramic into his hand. Giving the brew a delicate sniff before slowly drinking it down, the elder looked over the rim and out the window. He was in no rush to reply and apparently had no problem with making Spock wait to hear his rebuttal.

Spock felt his jaw tick but played it off by taking a quick sip of his own tea.

" It is true that I have no experience as a human but as a Vulcan I know our people quite well." he commented, shifting in the chair and taking another long sip of his tea.

"A Vulcan does not deny the existence of his emotions, simply balances them with his mind, his logic and the result is his ka'tra will be able to stay at rest." he said laying his hands flat on the table.

" You, young lord, have forsaken your emotions when you find it convenient. At other times you haphazardly direct your actions based on your feelings, whether you realize it or not. When you do come to see your folly, your mind clamps down over you, overcompensating for your loss of composure. You are not a computer or a machine Spock, mistakes will be made and your feelings hurt. You'll have wants, needs and desires and that is more than natural for both Vulcan and Human to experience, to feel. Perhaps your image of our people shades up more differently than you thought..."

Spock stayed silent but listened. If this monk wished to be heard out so be it. Whether or not Spock chose to put anything he spoke of into action would be based solely on the sage's logic.

Seeing his young audience was locking down the elder folded his hands down into the large pockets of his robe's sleeves and abandoned his tea.

"Tell me Spock, with whatever your current conflict is, do you know all the facts involved or have you gone about with half the story and constructed truth tables like an untried child? Have you made propositions that you can not prove as factual true and yet regard them as such?"

Again Spock remained silent but he broke eye contact and looked off towards the garden through the view the window provided. Upon his review he found the argument the monk presented to be true. He had let his fear of and his adoration of Nyota cloud his judgement. Something akin to shame colored his cheeks and he took another sip of tea though he did not need it. His mouth felt suddenly dry and his throat tight but he know it had nothing to do with the food or the drink itself.

" Perhaps I have brought most of the conflict onto myself but does that mean that I am to operate under no assumption? Act only passively towards my environment?"

The other Vulcan shook his head and made a bit of a huffing sigh. " No, you misunderstand me. Let me take a different approach...tell me...is your conflict based over a female?"

Spock flushed and the monk nodded. " I see. How is it that this female can keep you from simple things like eating a meal? Has she been unfaithful?"

Spock frowned slightly, getting defensive on Nyota's behalf before he realized it. " No, she has appeared to be nothing but dedicated to me. I...she is not Vulcan and there are things she does not understand. My career hangs in the balance, our careers and...I..."

" Do you love the female?"

Spock blinked and looked down and about the table. Did her love her? He felt like he did, though his anger towards her still simmered within him. She had betrayed him somehow, gotten him into this mess

" It is her fault that I am conflicted as I am now."

The monk tilted his head with a lift of his brow. " I did not ask you that, young Lord. Do you love her? Whether she makes you befuddled or confuses you is not the issue."

" I have not been myself as of late, I am not sure if I love her or if I love her love of me."

The monk seemed pleased by this. " Truth. And now another truth to face, do you wish to let her go on with her life without you? Know that another would possibly claim her as their own?"

" No." he answered automatically, curling his hand into a fist. He thought back on just this morning's observations, seeing Nyota smiling up into the young Cadet Chekov's face.

An immense sense of jealousy had overwhelmed him at the time that he could not put the feeling into words. He had measured himself with all known variables against the male in question and saw no reason for Nyota to even grace him with her company when she could have him instead. That is, if she felt she even could.

After the fight they had a few days prior it was illogical to think that she'd never see someone else, it just felt like this rebound was much too quick for him to handle. How did humans do it?

The monk finished his small plate of fruit and bread and finished off his tea, looking satisfied by the humble meal. " Also truth. It appears to me young lording that you would be an utter fool to leave someone you so obviously want in your life. Humans can be very confusing that is true but the same can be said for our people Spock. We are no less complex than they who baffle us, some say even more puzzling but if she is a reasonably, acceptable female to have as your mate then why not take her on as such?"

Spock opened his mouth but the elder held up his hand in protest. " Because you feel that she betrayed you? Lied to you? And you feel that way and say these things without proof, without undeniable facts to back your argument? I counter your stance with my own that those who love us rarely betray us but hurt us the most. Lick your wounds, young Schn T'gai and do not give into confusion so readily. Serenity is there for those who seek a way out of chaos, not those who would stay and try to solve it."

The older Vulcan rose from his seat and tucked his hand once more into his sleeves. " Live long and prosper, son of Sarek. Do not forgot to finish your dinner, it is getting cold."

" I am not hungr..." Spock started but closed his mouth soon after. Though he'd hate to admit it the sage Vulcan was right, he was too filled with conflict to eat, his turmoil was busy stuffing his belly full. His logic there had been spot on though Spock did not realize it at the time. Perhaps the same would be true with his reflections on his judgement of Nyota. " Peace and long life. I did not get your name monk?"

" I did not give it." The elder smiled and departed.

The waitress came back and started to clear the monk's place. " Would you like me to put your food in a stasis box to take home?"

Spock nodded and look after the monk's retreating form disappearing from the dining hall. " Yes, I have something I need to do."

* * *

Spock had successfully stayed busy for the day but found himself flagging towards the evening. He felt out of control, of his career, his feelings, his life. No longer was anything neatly packaged and stored away; all that Spock was as a being was scattered about in heaping piles in his mind and he hadn't the faintest idea of how and where to start sorting.

Going the gym to exercise had helped but the monk's words haunted him all throughout his work out. Had he really made himself to be the fool in this matter? How could possibly trust her or his emotions? It not only went against logic but the basis of who he was as a Vulcan.

How could one who made his foundation of his life logic tell him to integrate something as subjective as emotion into his own objective thinking?

To embrace his humanity when he had long chosen to live as wholly Vulcan. Blasphemy.

"Uhura. I got vat you needed. Vot eto da! You look...great."

" Spasibo, drug. That's the idea." a very familiar voice quipped with a giggle.

Spock paused on the walkway above at the mention of Nyota's name and busied himself with appearance of looking over the academy's atrium below as if he were looking for someone.

It's not something he would have done otherwise, something so meaningless as looking around but he wanted to listen in on the conversation taking place below him. His breath caught when he heard her and he felt that familiar ache in his side.

How could she make him hurt physically with just the sound of her voice? It was logically inconceivable but he could no more deny the tenderness permeating his abdomen than he could the person's existence who caused the reaction.

" Vat is it dat you vant out ov all ov dis?" the young cadet asked. He pulled out a string of cable cords and fiddled over the piece of wiring between his long fingers with a look of hesitation.

Spock watched as Nyota rimmed the soft pink cushion of her lips in a striking (if not gaudy) red, folding them together even the color and parted them with a soft smack. She trained her eyes, heavy with liner, on Chekov and gave him a wide smile.

" I want to destroy him. Nothing too big or complex, I just want him gone."

Spock swallowed and clinched his fists. She wanted to destroy...him?

Pavel shook his head with a look of dismay and reached for her hands that were busying capping the lipstick. " It is already big un complex, Uhura. Why not just end this by going to de admirals un finish dis nonsense now. I'm afraid for you. Dis could harm you as well..."

She withdrew her hand as if burned and shot him a haughty look. " You clearly don't understand what he's put me through if you think that I don't want to take this to the limit. He broke my heart and now he's trying to burn me? Ha, I think not. There's nothing left to stop, Pavel, that bridge to him is already burnt down."

Nyota shook her head, wisps of hair whipping themselves free of her messy bun. " No, he's going to pay with his name and career and they'll be nothing he can do to stop me because I'll have evidence against the bastard. He'll rue the day he crossed me."

She huffed and checked her comm and gathered all her makeup back into her purse. " Gotta run. I've got a date with destiny."

Pavel fished a small bag out of his pocket and handed it to Nyota with a bit of reluctance. " Wucky destiny. Be careful, kravsiyy."

She peered inside and smiled at the contents. " I will."

He couldn't watch anymore, he couldn't be subjected to anymore of...her. Spock grabbed the railing and took deep, steady breaths but found that the air did not satisfy the constriction within his chest. His breathing continued to become more shallow and he started to make his way to the bathroom.

How could she? Didn't she know how much he was at her mercy? Didn't Nyota know how much power she already held over him even before those photos? Why could she torture him in such a fashion?

Spock spent so much energy trying to focus on catching his breath, he began to shake as he struggled for control of himself. How dare she...HOW DARE SHE!

It took so much of his strength that he felt dizzy with effort. Rage buffeted him and he gasped for air as he ducked into the men's room.

A few of the men there at the urinals gave him looks of concern as he swayed over to the sink and began to wash his face. Spock was panting now, his chartreuse flushed face twitching and ticking as his anger fought for expression. Spock looked up and his reflection horrified even himself. His teeth on prominent display as a snarl withdrew the lips encasing them and his brow was at a near vertical arch as he scowled fiercely back at himself.

The eldest of them leaned over spoke in hushed tones and he shook and tuck himself back into pants.

" I don't wanna be here for whatever is about to happen with this guy." he mumbled, zipping up his pants and making a hasty exit. The others looked behind and agreed that leaving right now seemed to be the safest route and rushed over one another to get to the door. The last two bore witness to the low growl rumbling from where Spock stood.

Angry. He was so angry. If he came across Chekov he wasn't sure what he'd do.

Nyota, he would never harm her but he needed an outlet, a scapegoat, a whipping boy to take out his rage. His mind decided the bathroom was good enough. Just as the last man was exiting the room, a loud shattering sounded behind him. People passing in the hallway paused as sounds of the mirror and surrounding tile clamoured through the door.

The lose of his reflection did little to soothe him and he took a firm hold of the sink crushing into the rim with his fingers. With a straining grunt he pulled the sink free from its mounting on the wall, twisting it free of the pipe and crushed the porcelain between his hands like a sun baked clay. The poor water feature ruptured into pieces but again his blood was hot and thick in his veins. Spock roared as he launched it across the room and watched the broken sink fractured further as it clacked and clinked against the marble flooring.

Water gushed from the mangled pipe and soaked Spock and the room surrounding him. He shook himself bodily like a dog emerging from a pool and started towards the stalls and grabbed at the door. A small whimper whistled past his ear and he realized someone had still been in the room as he laid waste to it. The whimpering continued from behind the door followed by an audible gulp.

" You okay out there?" the voice asked timidly.

Spock stood there staring, exhausted and hurt. It was illogical to behavior but it had been a huge relief to be able to do so. Be human when treated as such. He would give her the night but Friday morning he was going to be there in the Admirals' presence whether she liked it or not.

A few moments of silence later the voice spoke again. " Having a bad day?"

" More precisely a bad 22 days." Spock said hoarsely. He sat on the floor with his back against the wall and sighed. " I have tried without success to solve my problems but how can I solve myself? Am I a problem?"

The voice hummed as if thinking to himself and smacked his teeth. " That's pretty deep man. I don't know what to tell you to do but I know what helps me. Sleeping. Often times I find just taking a nap can help me get some perspective on an issue if I don't actively think about it, you know? Let the subconscious take over and do the work for me. Besides,...you could probably use a nap..."

Spock looked around and silently groaned at the ruins of the bathroom and the growing flood. " I have severely damaged the..."

" Look, don't worry about that now dude. Just right yourself up and send it along and have them take it out of your pay and put a mark on your record but for everyone's safety go and lay down quietly!" the voice pleaded the stall. " Seriously you scared the literal shit out of me earlier. I don't think I've ever emptied myself so quickly. Thank God I was already on the toilet..."

" My apologies." Spock said sincerely. " I will take your advice since not doing so in the past with others has proven to be to my detriment."

Spock rose and slowly left the bathroom, acting as if everything were normal even as he left a trail of water pooling behind him and his clothing clinging to him like a second skin. How fortunate he thought, if my pants most be wet once more that the rest of my clothing should be too.

He very much desired to go home.


End file.
